Wedding, Phnom Penh 1974

[ofitg]

The Khmer lieutenant I worked with over there asked me to be the photographer at a wedding (as an American, I had access to color film processing).

I imagine these folks all died in 1975 - they weren't the ignorant dirt farmers that Pol Pot wanted for his Communist Utopia.

[jack404]

if they had a high school diploma or better theres a 99.8% chance they never made it ..

sorry mate .. , if you have a name , i can pass it onto Senki Kai in Siem Riep, they have done a heck of a job on records and the KR did keep a lot of records

[ofitg]

The lieutenant I worked with was named Heng Touch, but I don't know the names of these people. Heng Touch took me to the wedding, then guided me around, telling me "take picture".....

[jack404]

LT Heng Touch, , i'll give them a call in a couple hours and pass it on and ask em to check

[ofitg]

Thanks, Jack..... but I would be very surprised if Heng Touch had been captured alive.

[jack404]

common story amongst em , went down fighting if they could , Good Lord Bless them and Keep them ,

[ofitg]

According to some old notes I just found, Heng Touch's family lived in Tuk Chhea.... I don't know if that would help.

[jack404]

i dunno either it may , we'll see , but as a loyal officer its not a good bet ..

[jack404]

Sorry mate, only 161 officers made it through all that and out , and his name was not amongst them, they'll chase it up to see if there's a record of what happened but they stated many officers where executed on their own doorsteps and just tossed into trucks and dumped , or hunted down and killed as a "Enemy of the people"

funny how those who claim such crimes always end up being shown as the true enemies

May The Good Lord rest your mate's Soul

[ofitg]

Jack, thanks for making that phone call. I always assumed that Heng Touch was killed, but I never knew how to verify it.

I wish I had more names for you to check.... at one time I had a list of the dozen or so enlisted guys who worked for Heng Touch (we prepared USAF training certificates for them), but that list is long gone.

[jack404]

no worries i know Diana from the records project and i'm just sitting here freezing my buns till something happens

this is the project she's working on

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=861055

[rooter]

Jack and Ofig (sp), I realize this old local article has naught to do with your conversation, but the first picture you posted here Jack reminds me of how those Buddist Monks living in the west valley looked..It was a horrible crime and only recently there had been an update of some sort...Chief



9 found slain in Valley temple Buddhist monks, nun were 'executed'
by Shandra Martinez, Todd Natenberg and Frederick Bermudez, David Cannella, Christine Keith, Pamela Manson and Randy Collier -

Aug. 11, 1991 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
.

Nine people - six Buddhist monks, a nun and two acolytes - were found shot to death execution-style Saturday morning in a Buddhist temple west of Phoenix in one of the largest mass killings in Maricopa County history.

The nun, Foy Sripanpiaserf, was the 71-year-old grandmother of the youngest victim, Matthew Miller, a novice monk. Miller was a 16-year-old sophomore at Trevor Browne High School in Phoenix.

A temple member who was taking the monks their daily meal discovered blood on a door, went inside the temple and found the bodies in a room, according to templegoers and Maricopa County Sheriff Tom Agnos. The temple, Wat Promkunaram, is at Cotton Lane and Maryland Avenue.
Agnos said it definitely was an execution-style killing. ''The bodies were laid out side by side, and there was no sign of resistance,'' Agnos said.

He said that no motive has been established but that two other, smaller rooms in the building had been ransacked. The main room, the temple area, had been left undisturbed, he said.

An expert on Asian gangs was called to the killing site, Agnos said. Somchat Songthong, 37, a retired monk, identified the other victims as Than-Ajan (High Priest) Pairuch Kanthong; Boonchuay, who taught meditation; Surichai; Chalerm; Seang; Somsak; and a 21-year-old acolyte, Chirasak.

Sheriff's officials would not confirm victims' names or release other details, saying the investigation will continue today. Sheriff's Office spokesman Duane Brady said the bodies were found on the floor in living quarters adjacent to a worship area.

''It is probably one of the larger mass murders that we've experienced in Arizona, and certainly in the Sheriff's Office,'' Brady said.

''We are looking at all aspects of this investigation. There is no motive, and there's just a lot of ground that has to be covered before we can say any more than what we have.''

He said authorities have ''no concrete leads at this point.'' FBI agents reponded to the scene, but Brady said that the investigation is being handled by the Sheriff's Office and that agents were there as ''observers.''

He said authorities did not find a weapon at the scene. Temple members who gathered at the site of the mass killing believed that robbery might have been a motive, although Jerry Hastings, Miller's half brother, said he was told that authorities do not believe that anything was taken.

There were valuable statues inside the temple, and there was money from templegoers inside, according to many of the more than 100 members who gathered Saturday afternoon, hoping in vain for some word of what happened.

Sandy Issertell, a member from Buckeye, said she had $6,000 worth of valuables, including a $5,000 antique coin, in the temple. She gave the valuables to the monks three weeks ago so they could bless them as part of a prayer ceremony for her. The items had to stay in the temple for three months to become sacred, Issertell said. Issertell may have been one of the last people to see the monks alive.

She said she helped them cook and clean on Friday, just before they went to a ceremony at someone's house Friday evening. One of the monks called her shortly after 11 p.m. Friday to ask her whether she wanted to return to the temple on Saturday, but Issertell declined. Around 10:30 a.m. Saturday, temple member Chawee Borders took a daily meal to the monks, according to her husband, Phil.

Temple members said the monks eat once a day before noon, and they drink only water or juice after noon. They are taken food by different members.

Borders apparently saw blood on the door, went inside and found the bodies, her husband said. After contacting authorities, she contacted other temple members, and the news quickly spread. Miller, the 16-year-old novice, had just completed his training and a huge celebration had been planned for today, temple members said.

Robert Johnson, whose wife is a temple member, said, ''There'd be food, festivities, dancing, everything, a big ceremony.''

Hastings said his grandmother became a nun only three weeks ago and had shaved her head.

Foy had come to the United States about four years ago to live with her daughter, mother of Hastings and Miller.

Hastings said police suspect the slayings took place about 5 a.m., because one of the monks was due to leave for Los Angeles at 6 a.m.

All of the members who lived in the temple died Saturday. It is unclear whether the slayings are the biggest mass killings in Maricopa County history. In 1966, four women and a child were shot by a man who walked into a Mesa beauty college.

Temple membership is open to all, although most of the 300 families who are members are Cambodians, Laotians and Thais. The followers are Theravada Buddhists, a sect common in Thailand. Among their beliefs are that beings undergo repeated rebirths, an authority on Buddhism said Saturday.

''This makes no sense,'' said the expert, who asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisal.

''If the people who did this follow Buddhism, this is unbelievably sinful with implications that will follow into one's next life. ''They would burn in hell forever.''

Nestled in a five-acre lot in rural Maricopa County, the temple is surrounded by cottonwood trees and a rock fence, which recently has been the target of graffiti, neighbors said.

The temple was founded in 1985 near Trafalgar and 83nd avenues in Phoenix when Kanthong was persuaded to stay in the Valley to build a place for Thais to continue their Theravada Buddhism. In 1988, the temple moved to its current location.

Soophachai Chantharangsee, a board member of the temple, said members were in the midst of paying for the $130,000 lot and structure.

He said the monks were open to anyone who wanted to know more about their religion and meditation.

''It doesn't matter if you're Muslim or Christian, whoever wanted to know about meditation, they were willing to teach,'' Chantharangsee said.

Despite 100-degree heat, more than 90 members of the temple gathered at the site Saturday, anxious to know the answer to one question: Why?

''I just don't understand why this happened,'' Chantharangsee said. ''Why'd they have to kill them?''

Temple members camped under umbrellas, automobile windshield shades and paper sacks converted into hats to protect themselves from the sun. Loved ones and friends of the monks cried and embraced. A whole community was brought together.

One temple member collected money for ice, drinks and cups. Members set up a table to distribute the cold drinks.

Another temple board member, Tongsook Lesher, distributed a note pad to gather telephone numbers and names of those who showed up at the scene in an effort to help police.

Doug Moye, a businessman in the area who is close friends with temple members, worried about the impact the slayings will have on the community.



Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/2008/11/20/20081120templemurdersbackground112008-CR.html#ixzz1RDipIDXs

[ofitg]

Rooter, I remember those temple slayings occurring the summer my wife and I moved to Arizona... wow, twenty years ago....

I didn't know there was a recent update - did something happen with that kid (I think his name was Moody) who was convicted?

EDIT - just did a quick Google search, the kid's name was Doody

[rooter]

I'm not sure about the contents of the update...maybe I recall him being prosecuted as a minor or something else trivial...Chief

[ofitg]

One of the strange aspects I remember of the case is that the cops originally arrested some guys from Tucson and somehow coerced them into confessing to the crime.... it later turned out that those guys didn't have anything to do with the murders.

[rooter]

You recalled facts about the case I'd forgotten about....You nailed details that had slipped my mind, but it sure was a crazy case...That, 'rush to judgement' thing about the cops falsly accusing others was a classic example of 'cop capers' known locally to have happened...perhaps still are!!! Are you still residing in Arizona? Chief

[ofitg]

Chief, I live about 40 miles east from your location.

Yeah, my mind is a steel trap, all right..... now where the heck did I leave my coffee cup?????