Phoenix Police arrest Senita resident accused of 2005 California murder

The Phoenix Police Department’s Major Offender Bureau last week captured one of America’s most wanted fugitives in Maricopa.

“Eddie” Cuong Viet Nguyen, 26, who was featured on the television show “America’s Most Wanted” on March 22, was wanted for a murder that took place in Orange County, Calif., June 26, 2005, Phoenix Police stated. The show’s Web site reported that his victim, Tri Van Bui, was killed at a bar in Orange County, Calif., while celebrating the marriage of a friend.

“We received some anonymous information, and we started working it from sources we had in Phoenix,” said Sergeant Joel Tranter, a spokesman for Phoenix Police. “We had our Phoenix Police Department Fugitive Squad assigned to it, and it brought us down to a house in Maricopa.”

Phoenix Police then set up surveillance at the property and waited.

At about 8 p.m. June 12 Nguyen stepped out of that home to walk a dog. Phoenix Police officers recognized Nguyen from file photos provided by the television show and homicide investigators in California.

Phoenix Police immediately took Nguyen into custody without incident and took him to Phoenix Police Headquarters where he was fingerprinted and booked into the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office jail on a $1 million fugitive from justice warrant.

Maricopa Police assisted by helping to write a search warrant for the house after Nguyen’s arrest and providing a detective to do the search at the home in the 19100 block of Kristal Lane in Senita.

“Our detectives got involved at the request of Phoenix Police,” Maricopa Police Spokesman Sergeant Stephen Judd said. “Phoenix asked us to be quiet about it until they could get all of their charges filed and the extradition in order with California.”

On Wednesday, Orange County investigators took custody of Nguyen and returned him to California where he will stand trial for the 2005 Murder.

Click here to read more about the case in the Orange County Register.

Photo courtesy of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office