Prosecutors in Pennsylvania said a mother will spend the rest of her life in prison after pleading guilty last week to murdering her two sons and trying to kill her neighbor — who was also the boys’ cousin.
The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said Trinh T. Nguyen, 40, admitted to shooting her sons Nelson Tini, 9, and Jeffrey Tini, 13, in the head while both boys lay in bed in May 2022. Her sons died days later in the hospital.
Prosecutors said Nguyen also tried to shoot Gianni Melchiondo, her neighbor and the nephew of her ex-husband, but the weapon malfunctioned and the victim was able to disarm her.
Nguyen was given two life sentences without parole for killing her sons and up to 20 years behind bars for trying to kill her neighbor. All sentences will be served consecutively.
The district attorney’s office said they built their case around Nguyen’s own writings where she blamed other people for her problems, such as the upcoming eviction from her home.
“It’s clear our evidence showed that this defendant had that wickedness of disposition that she had made these plans,” First Assistant District Attorney Jen Schorn said after the hearing. “She wrote a manifesto laying out what she was going to do, and you could see throughout the hate she had for others and the people she blamed.”
Upper Makefield Township Police said the shooting was first reported around 7:05 a.m. on May 2, 2022.
Authorities said Nguyen fled in a white minivan and was attempting to kill herself before being taken into custody.
Investigators discovered that she fled to New Jersey to obtain a lethal dose of narcotics after the deadly shooting. Police confiscated packages of suspected heroin when she was arrested inside her van around 11:30 a.m. that day.
