Neighbors shocked at dad's involvement

Investigators escorted Brian Tzeo into his home outside Conover Thursday afternoon where they continued their investigation into his involvement in opium and heroin trafficking, which police think led to his family's murders.

Tzeo did not speak as he walked up the driveway and entered his home.

In an earlier Associated Press interview, he said, "I regret everything. It's something I never should have gotten involved in. It's hard to live with this."

Tzeo declined to discuss any details of his alleged drug dealing and he has not been charged.

His neighbors are still struggling to come to terms with the murder of Tzeo's family and the deaths of the couple suspected in their deaths, Chiew Chan Saevang, 37, of Schofield, Wis., and his girlfriend, 40-year-old Yer Yang of Long View.

Tzeo's neighbor and friend, Mike Mai Cai, said he met Saevang and Yang on several occasions and they seemed like good people.

"I knew Chiew because he came over all the time," Cai said.

Saevang was a quiet person who liked to discuss the history of Cai's native Vietnam — a subject Saevang said he read about in jail, recalled Cai.

"He seemed like a very smart person," he said.

Tzeo's family was killed March 12. On Saturday, March 14, Yang stopped by Cai's house for about 10 minutes to ask him what he had heard about what had happened, according to authorities.

Cai said he told her what he had heard on the news and Yang left, saying her daughter, who had driven her to the home, needed to go to work.

Catawba County Sheriff David Huffman said as far as he knew, Yang was not under investigation by any area law enforcement agencies before the murders.

"Her name was not on our radar before this happened but her name kept popping up during our investigation," he said.

Catawba County Social Services was called in to Yang's apartment Wednesday after her death in Utah, Huffman said.

"Child protective services is partnering with law enforcement to ensure safety and services to the children of Ms. Yang during this difficult time," said Beth Brandes, the assistant director of Catawba County Social Services.

Authorities have said Tzeo would convert the opium to heroin, which Yang would take to Saevang in Wisconsin for sale.

Tzeo has said his family was "his whole life." He said his daughters doted on him and were sneaking around planning his "surprise" birthday party in the days before they were killed.

Tzeo and Phan separately filed bankruptcy in recent years, citing thousands of dollars in mounting debt and suggesting the family was spending more than it was bringing in.

Christopher Pack has been Tzeo's neighbor for about seven years. He said he knew Tzeo and Cody and was shocked when he learned of the horrific crime.

"Evidently something was going on that nobody knew about," he said.

Tzeo's niece, Mey Saephan of Long Beach, Calif., said she had known Tzeo when she was a child. She has been monitoring the media coverage of the crime and traveled to North Carolina to be with her uncle and extended family.

"It's incomprehensible that someone would do this," she said. "That it was done by someone from our own Mien culture adds to the disbelief."

Cai said in all the years he's been friends with Tzeo and all the times he had been in Tzeo's home, he never had any idea Tzeo was involved in the drug trade.

He looked at the ground and said, "I don't know what to think. I don't know what to say."

Tzeo declined to comment when contacted for this story.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.