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Father Says He Threw 4 Children From Bridge

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By GARRY MITCHELL, The Associated Press

Published: January 10, 2008

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. - A day after reporting his four young children missing, a shrimp fisherman broke down and told deputies that he threw them off an 80-foot-high bridge to their deaths, authorities said Wednesday.

Lam Luong, 37, was charged with four counts of capital murder, and divers searched the murky waters for the bodies of the youngsters, who ranged in age from a few months to 3 years.

Luong had a drug habit and had argued with his wife, Ngoc Phan, before taking the children, said Phan's brother-in-law, Kam Phengsisomboun.

Luong's girlfriend, who was living in a hotel in nearby Gulfport, Miss., figured into the couple's arguments on Sunday and Monday morning, family members and police said.

Authorities said they think Luong then drove Monday to the two-lane Dauphin Island Bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway, stopped at the highest part of the span and threw the youngsters over the side.

Luong and his wife reported the children missing Monday. He initially told police he had given the kids to his girlfriend and that she failed to return them, investigators and family members said.

Authorities said they found holes in his account, and he changed his story.

Missing and presumed dead were 4-month-old Danny Luong; 1-year-old Lindsey Luong; 2-year-old Hannah Luong; and 3-year-old Ryan Phan. Phan is not the man's biological child, but Luong raised him from infancy, authorities said.

About 70 people in boats and helicopters searched water as deep as 55 feet in a search area that covered 100 square miles because the current might have swept the children away, Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran said.

The search was called off late Wednesday afternoon when dense fog rolled in, completely obscuring the bridge. It was to resume in the morning, weather permitting.

Luong was scheduled to appear in court today.

Phan, 23, was in seclusion Wednesday morning at her mother's brick home, the front porch cluttered with children's shoes.

Some family members and friends held out hope.

"I just pray for the kids, that they are still alive," said Van Lam, a family friend who was at a market with Phan's mother Wednesday afternoon.

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