Lam Luong is behind bars for the murder of his children, Hannah Luong, Lindsey Luong, Danny Luong, and Ryan Phan, who he threw over a bridge in Mobile County, Alabama.
On Aug. 31, 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed Bayou La Batre, Louisiana. That’s when Luong and his common-law wife, Kieu Phan, had to relocate to Hinesville, Georgia, where their relationship took a turn for the worse.
Phan, who was 23 years old at the time, testified that when she found out Luong was using crack and seeing another woman, she took their children and moved to Mobile, Alabama.
Instead of staying in Georgia, Luong followed his family to Alabama, where he tried to find a job. He wasn’t having any luck, and his relationship with Phan continued to decline.
Following an argument on Jan. 7, 2008, Luong went to the nail salon where Phan worked around 10 a.m. and asked for money. She gave him $31, and he used that to buy gas for his van.
Hours after Luong left the salon, Phan tried to reach him via cell phone but was unsuccessful, 9 News reported.
By 7 p.m. that evening, Luong had contacted her and stated that he had left the children in the care of an Asian woman named Kim.
Luong and Phan then went to the police station to report their children missing, but once they got there, Luong confessed to murdering Ryan, 3, Hannah, 2, Lindsey, 1, and four-month-old Danny.
He admitted to driving them to Dauphin Island and throwing the children over the bridge and into the river. He showed detectives the exact location where he threw the children.
Despite his cooperation, it took two weeks to recover the bodies of the four children. They were scattered along the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
An autopsy showed that the children were alive when they were thrown over an 80-foot bridge and into the river, according to The Oakland Press.
Luong was arrested and charged with five counts of capital murder. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death in 2009.
Circuit Judge Charles Graddick then asked the prison guards to show Luong a photograph of the children every day that he is on death row.
His sentence was later commuted to life in prison after a new test revealed that he had an IQ of 51, which didn’t meet the minimum state and federal requirements for execution, Fox10 TV reported.
The state of Alabama concluded that Luong had an intellectual disability, and for that reason, the U.S. Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional to execute him.