A respected art professor and his wife were allegedly killed by their son in Ohio, according to police.
Pipo Nguyen-Duy, who taught studio art and photography at Oberlin College and Conservatory, was found dead with his wife, 56-year-old Thi Tran Phong, inside a home near the college.
Police were called to the conservatory’s parking lot on Wednesday morning to assist Oberlin Fire crews with a vehicle that appeared to be burning. That response ultimately led investigators to the nearby home.
When emergency crews arrived, they attempted to find the vehicle’s registered owner, identified as Daniel Jones, Fox 8 reported.
When they could not locate the 31-year-old man, police went to his residence to conduct a welfare check.
Inside, officers found the 64-year-old professor dead on the first floor and his wife on the second floor. Police said both victims had suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
Jones, who is Nguyen-Duy’s son and Phong’s stepson, was later found in Shipherd Circle, about a mile from the home.
Oberlin police arrested Jones, who was charged with six counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and one count of tampering with evidence, Cleveland 19 reported.
Studio art and photography professor Pipo Nguyen-Duy was found dead with his wife, Thi Tran Phong, inside a home near Oberlin College and Conservatory
Daniel Jones, Nguyen-Duy’s son, was identified as the prime suspect and arrested by Oberlin police. He was charged with six counts of murder
The 64-year-old professor was found on the first floor and his wife on the second. Police said both victims died from multiple gunshot wounds
“I don’t know what could have transpired for someone to do that. I mean, to me he didn’t seem like he had a mean bone in his body,” Shawn Stovall, a friend and neighbor of Nguyen-Duy, told Fox 8.
The outlet reported that Jones had told residents several days before the alleged killings that he was trying to escape from a cult.
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“He had tattoos on his forehead and his face. He looked wet and very disheveled, very nervous. He had a fanny pack or some kind of backpack that they’re looking for right now because they think that’s where the murder weapon is,” Oberlin resident Greg Poirson said.
Jones appeared in court for the first time Thursday at Lorain County Common Pleas Court. He has not entered a plea.
His bond was initially set at $1.5 million, but Oberlin Municipal Court Judge Farah Emeka ordered it doubled “given the egregious nature of the charges,” WKYC reported.
Oberlin College and Conservatory issued a shelter-in-place order after police notified the school about the incident.
The order was later lifted after authorities determined that there was no ongoing threat to the campus or the wider community.
Katherine Pahal, an Oberlin student, told Cleveland 19 that she smelled smoke before receiving the alert.
“We knew something was up, but we didn’t know what it was,” Pahal said. “It wasn’t until maybe a half-hour later that we got the call and email telling us to shelter in place. Still, it didn’t tell us what was happening, just that something was happening.”
Oberlin College President Carmen Twillie Ambar later wrote to students to inform them of the professor’s death.
“This is a deeply challenging moment for our campus. I am writing to share the tragic news of the violent passing of Pipo Nguyen-Duy. Tragedies such as this one intrude upon our lives in jarring ways. I am simply overwhelmed with sadness, and I am deeply concerned about the impact of the devastating loss of Pipo to our community.”
“Pipo was beloved. During his years at Oberlin, he touched all of us through his passion for photography. In the days ahead, we will honor Pipo’s life. Our community will be hurting for a very long time.”
Nguyen-Duy was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the United States as a political refugee in 1975.
He received several prominent honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and multiple residencies, and had taught at the university since 1998.
A date for the next hearing has not been publicly announced following Jones’ grand jury bind-over.
