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Fingerprint in victim’s blood leads West Valley City Police to suspect in 2007 murder

Posted at 3:52 PM, Mar 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-08 17:53:17-05

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah -- Police in West Valley City announced Thursday they have made an arrest in the 2007 murder of Tri Xuan Phan.

Police say Phan was last seen alive on January 10, 2007 as he got ready to close up at Vui Vui Billiards at 1893 West 3500 South.

Phan never made it home that night and was found dead inside the business the next morning.

Det. David Greco of the West Valley City Police Department recently began looking over the cold case, and he identified a fingerprint from the suspect that was left in the victim's blood.

Testing that fingerprint led police to identify the suspect Thursday as 37-year-old Tien Truong Nguyen. Greco said Nguyen faces charges of homicide and obstruction of justice in connection with the death of Phan.

Investigators say Nguyen indicated there was a fight on the day of Phan's death and that afterward he returned to the scene to clean it up and hide evidence.

Greco said investigators tested the fingerprint back in 2007, but at that time Nguyen did not have an arrest record and his fingerprints were not in the system.

Nguyen has a criminal record now, which is how police traced the fingerprint to him, but police declined to comment on the details of that criminal record, saying it's part of another agency's active investigation.

Det. Greco discussed the details of his investigation with media Thursday, see the Facebook video below for his remarks.