I'm unsure if sharing forgotten cases is allowed here but this is one I thought more people should know about. (Excuse the crappy editing.)
This is a case that I've been looking into for around Six to Seven years now, if you were to google search the name Kim Nguyen you'd find one Associated Press Article (Linked above.), one very old forum post, and several threads that I have shared in another SubReddit. It's a case that has gotten some new attention since I started sharing it around but it's not as well known as the cases of Ashley Estell (Which happened less than two months later.) and Amber Hagerman which has become a household name thanks to the Amber Alert.
So who was Kim Nguyen? This thread will be a rundown of the case's events from the first day to the last official news update.
July 18th, 1993, was a sunny and very hot Sunday for the residents of Garland Texas. At the Nguyen Family Home in Northeast Garland Kim Nguyen, an Eight-Year-Old boy began roughhousing with his older brother Michael at around 6/6:30 AM. After a short tussle Michael possibly becoming agitated with his younger brother told the boy to go and watch cartoons, Kim then left Michael and made his way to the living room.
At around 7 AM The boys' father Rudolph walked over to the boy's shared room to check in on them, I would assume Michael then told Rudolph that Kim was in the living room watching Sunday Morning Cartoons. However, when Rudolph walked into the living room to check on Kim he did not see the boy, enlisting the help of his wife Sarah and Michael the trio searched the home in vain but to no avail, Kim was no longer in the home and at around 7:30 AM Rudolph phoned the Garland Police Department.
What transpired was a massive Sunday afternoon search of the neighborhood for the missing boy consisting of members of the Garland Police Department, Emergency Corps, and dozens of concerned neighbors who combed the neighborhood for the missing Eight-Year-Old.
One of the "Hindrances." in the search was that Kim was severely Autistic according to family members, the boy's father further elaborated on this saying "Kim can understand English but often refuses to speak to anyone." and by late Sunday the boy had not been found. On Sunday afternoon, while
... keep reading on reddit ➡This is a case that I've written about several times (Links are featured here.)
(Part:1) https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/k87cx7/kim_nguyen_garlands_lost_boy/
So the locations...
I want to discuss one of the larger details of the case which is the locations of where Kim Kim's Shirt was found and where his remains were found. This is a shorter post.
The Field.
https://i.imgur.com/iyXcG7L.png
This photo from 1995 shows the location of where Kim's remains were located Eleven days after he was last seen by an unidentified witness, I pin-marked two important locations.
- Where Kim was Found.
- Where the 911 call was made by the two teenagers who found him.
Could this location reveal a little bit of detail about Kim's abductor/killer?
This location is a bit weird, it's not isolated, you can see this in this wider 1995 Aerial.
https://i.imgur.com/eacEwtB.png
Town East Mall is to the Northeast, there are three Apartment complexes across the highway whose view of the field isn't obscured and there's a Nursing Center to the southwest of the field and to the right of the U-Haul which is within viewing distance of where the remains were located.
Also, keep in mind the Mesquite Commons Shopping Center (Built where the field was.) was being planned out even as early on as 1993. I would assume that there would be land surveyors out in the field every other day.
The Garland Power Plant.
This photo also from 1995 shows the Power Plant located off of Avenue. B in Garland where Kim's shirt was found on July 21st of 1993. It is not known how Kim's shirt wound up at the plant although my theory is the killer dumped it here, the exact location of where the shirt was found was not given either but I assume it was along the creek that runs between the plant and Lou Huff Park which resides in front of the Power
... keep reading on reddit ➡A case that I have written about in several previous write-ups. I have put some consideration into my next planned step since I've done all I can do for now as a citizen, I've still kept in contact with the unidentified relative and looking into the case some more again.
(Case Synopsis.) https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/07/30/Police-ask-for-publics-help-in-probe-of-childs-death/9254744004800/
So what's the next step?
I set up a Change Petition around a month ago, it's sort of taken off and now has 195 Signatures, I am still prepping on how to present it to the Departments addressed in who it's aimed towards.
My hope is that the case is revived or picked back up in this age of New Tech where more and more cases are being solved, maybe there's something in the original investigation that was overlooked? For now, we'll just have to wait.
If anyone wants to sign it; it would be greatly appreciated, we need more signatures, it's still a ways to go, sharing it around would be greatly appreciated as well, I have been sharing it on my Social Media platforms since I started it.
If you are unfamiliar with this case I have linked the Reddit Write-ups in the petition.
LINK | Keine Untertitel verfügbar
Beschreibung: Treffen sich Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim und Pierre M. Krause. Sagt Pierre: "Kommst du mit auf den Kiez?" Darauf Mai Thi: "Aber nur für ne Kurzstrecke!" HAHAHAAH!!! Sorry, versteht man nur, wenn man Quantenmechanik studiert hat.
In Part: 1 I wrote a synopsis of the case of Kim Nguyen the 8-Year-Old Autistic Boy from Garland Texas who vanished on July 18th of 1993. You can read about the case here: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/k87cx7/kim_nguyen_garlands_lost_boy/
In Part: 2 I wrote about the Autopsy Report, theorizing on the Cause Of Death, etc you can read about that here: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/kckm43/kim_nguyen_an_undeterminable_cause_of_death/
In Part: 3 we can get a better insight into Kim from an unidentified relative, they've wished to remain anonymous and I will respect that choice. I plead anyone please do not try to contact this relative, it was passed onto them from the parents because they'd rather stay away from the spotlight.
- My first question was about Kim's Social Circle and given where he fell on the Autism Spectrum was there anyone he may have interacted with outside of the family? The Relative's response was as follows:
>***"Kim had very limited communication skills; he was very low functioning. He communicated by pulling one of us over to the things he wanted and protested furiously over things he didn't want to do. Anyone (like house guests) who would try to communicate with him is usually ignored as he continues to fixate on things, e.g., spinning coins. Outside the house, he went to school and was in special ed. So he had special ed teachers and special ed classmates."*** - Relative.
- I was unaware of any interaction with any teacher or classmates, this was my ignorance but there wasn't any mention of either of these in interviews with people who were familiar with the boy outside of the family.
- My second question was about whether Kim might have formed an attachment with that he became familiar with? Of which the relative said:
>***"If he formed any kind of relationship at all with anyone outside the family, it would be at school with his special ed class or teachers--but I don't think any of us can confirm that since we weren't physically at school with him. With our own social circle of family and friends, he never gravitated to anyone nor shown any excitement to see them. In fact, I would even say he rarely showed any clear attachment to any of us, i.e., h
... keep reading on reddit ➡
I'm a writer for a Dallas area blog, I also look into area Cold Cases if I get the chance to, I noticed there was a thread in this group from Two Years ago that didn't provide much information on this case so I'd like to share some things.
I started looking into this case back around 2012 - 2013, I started seriously looking into it by 2014 because at the time (2012 - 2013.) I didn't have access to area Newspaper Archives, there's one brief article on Google from the Associated Press and one short Forum Thread about the case but that's again only a brief mention.
I heard about this case from time to time from local Mesquite Texas residents in a few pages on Facebook about the city's past, occasionally while browsing I would see "Did anyone remember when that boy from Garland was found in Mesquite?" and so on so, I decided to look for more information about this case.
I started digging through articles, I actually wrote a synopsis for a True Crime Group I mentioned on my Tasha Wright Post just recently when asked about the case, unfortunately, it's a PDF so it's not as organized as I had hoped but it provides a rundown of events in the case from Kim's initial disappearance to when he was found in Mesquite.
So who was Kim Nguyen? The other thread on this case didn't provide much information outside of the Associated Press link so here's a quick rundown of the case. (I Have a complete write-up in a PDF that I, unfortunately, can't upload here but it goes over the events of the eleven-day search.)
On July 18th, 1993, Kim Nguyen an Eight-Year-Old boy from NorthEast Garland (Thornhill Lane to be exact.) was roughhousing with his brother Michael at around 6/6:30 AM. After a short tussle Michael possibly becoming agitated with his brother told Kim to go and watch cartoons, Kim then left his brother and made his way to the living room according to his brother.
Around 7 AM The boys' father Rudolph walked towards their room to check on them, I would assume Michael then told Rudolph that Kim was in the living room watching Sunday Morning Cartoons. However, when he walked into the living room to check on Kim he did not see the boy, enlisting the help of his wife Sarah and Michael the trio searched the home in vain but to no avail, Kim was no longe
... keep reading on reddit ➡July 29th: "I Remember Nothing."
At around 6:10 PM on July 29th,1993 two unidentified Mesquite (A city south of Garland.) teenagers were walking home from Town East Mall along an empty field at the corner of Highways 635 and 80 just southwest of said mall. This particular area where they were walking was being readied for a planned shopping center, roads had already been laid out. As both boys continued their trek they noticed something nearby lying among the Johnson Grass, something odd, instinctively they jogged over to see what it was. It turned out to be the nude, badly decomposed body of a child.
The boys immediately ran to a nearby U-Haul Rental Facility just southwest and called the Mesquite Police Department and officers immediately began investigating the body and area where it had been found. Garland Police immediately got wind of the discovery either from the department contacting them or from local TV news coverage. Garland Officer Larry Rollins who was also the Department's Spokesperson in the case was interviewed by the Dallas Morning News to which he said "We feel this is probably the body of Kim Nguyen."
Meanwhile, Rudolph Nguyen who had been searching to the last moments for his son was contacted about 8 p.m. by Mesquite police. He joined his wife, Sarah, and other children at the station to receive the dreaded news. Afterwitch Mr.Nguyen was also interviewed by the Dallas Morning News saying "Now that I know he's dead, I can go on, I just want to live my life to help people like him." In a rare interview, Sarah Nguyen said "He couldn't communicate. He was a helpless little boy, But he knew how to love me. He would take my hand whenever he wanted something." as she clutched a picture of Kim to her chest. Both Police Departments said they would rely on the Dallas County medical examiner's office to supply positive identification of the body from dental records (Due to Decomp.). That process would begin that Friday morning, the medical examiner's office told The Dallas Morning News.
Officer Rollins said police had no idea how long the body was in the lot. It was so decomposed that they were unable to determine the child's gender. The body was found about 10 miles from the boy's Garland hom
... keep reading on reddit ➡I had previously written about 8-Year-Old Kim Nguyen of Garland Texas. an Autistic Vietnamese boy who vanished from the intersection of ThornHill Lane and Castle Drive where his Neighborhood was. The case originates from July 19th, 1993.
(The case's synopsis.) https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/k87cx7/kim_nguyen_garlands_lost_boy/
When Kim's remains were discovered by two teenagers twelve days after the boy had vanished it didn't take long for Mesquite and Garland Police to determine Kim's Cause Of Death was "Homicide." mainly on the factor that given the distance from Castle Drive/Thornhill Lane and a field at the intersection of Highways 80 and 635 it would be implausible for the boy to have walked that far without having been spotted, this was further backed by the fact in the First Page of the M.E Report there aren't any bruises on the feet.
Mesquite/Garland never changed their status of Kim's death from Homicide however they were apparently never able to determine an exact cause of death outside of homicide. The main factor of this being that Kim's remains were pretty decomposed and had succumbed to the elements at this point. (You can also see this throughout the M.E Report.)
When I got my copy of the M.E report back in September I wanted to see if I could figure out an exact cause of death the report's short.
There's no evidence of a gunshot or stabbing nor any sign of a beating, the hyoid bone is intact but due to decomposition I can't rule out strangulation with an item like a piece of clothing. There is also no sign of S.A.
The one other possible Cause Of Death may be Suffocation, Kim's shirt which was the only piece of clothing he had been wearing at the time was located at a nearby power plant but there was no evidence of blood or rips, I don't know if they analyzed the shirt further though as there hasn't been an update since 1997.
Any thoughts? This has been the most frustrating part.
These are the M.E Report Parts.
(Part 1.)
https://i.imgur.com/13Aw1k1.png
(Part 2.)
https://i.imgur.com/0rWPKF3.png
(Part 3.)
