Introduction
Jason Chan is an innocent man who has been incarcerated for the murder of Haing Ngor since 1996. At the time of the murder, Jason and his co-defendants, Indra Lim and Tak Tan, were down the street at Indra’s house more than a quarter-mile away from the crime scene. The two main witnesses against Jason Chan recanted at trial. There was no physical evidence connecting any of the boys to the crime scene. Investigators failed to look into a third-party suspect with questionable business ties and a motive to want Haing Ngor dead.
Background
Haing Ngor survived the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror in Cambodia. Ngor escaped Cambodia and moved to Thailand in 1979 after losing his wife and unborn son. Ngor moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1981 and is best known for his 1985 performance in The Killing Fields. The Killing Fields is based on a book that chronicles Ngor’s life during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.
Jason “Cloudy” Chan, Indra “Solo” Lim, and Tak Sun “Rambo” Tan were all members of the “Oriental Lazy Boyz” (O.L.B.) gang. Chan, Lim, and Tan frequently smoked crack cocaine and participated in chain snatchings to support their habit.
Lim lived with his mother 360 feet south of Ngor’s carport. Soung “Timmy” Chroeung lived 712 feet south of the carport.
The Crime
On February 25, 1996, someone followed Dr. Haing Ngor to his carport. As he pulled into the parking spot, the assailant or assailants approached the driver’s side of Ngor’s Mercedez and shot him twice, killing him. Those responsible stole a Rolex and a necklace. They left behind several thousand in cash. No one saw the shooting; however, numerous individuals heard gunshots and looked outside. One witness, in particular, heard what he thought was a 4-cylinder car fleeing the scene up the steep incline of the alley.
Almost immediately after the shooting, Indra Lim’s mother got a phone call alerting her that someone had been shot nearby. She told Indra Lim to come inside. Jason Chan and Tak Tan decided to leave. They were still present as police arrived at the scene, a direct contradiction to the witness statements above that the perpetrators fled immediately. According to Chan, he and Tan took the bus to Tan’s house.
Vireak Sarik and Timmy Chroeung lived in the area. Throughout the police investigation and court hearings, Vireak gave seven different accounts of the events, with the first denying any knowledge of the crime. Timmy gave six different accounts, the third of which was a false account by an officer. After many unrecorded interviews and threats by police, the prosecution alleged Timmy picked up Chan and Tan at the bottom of the alley and drove them away from the scene. The prosecution called several other witnesses to testify about Chan, Lim, and Tan’s gang involvement and chain-snatching crimes they committed in the area.
War Crimes Tribunal
In 2009, more than a decade after Haing Ngor’s murder, Kang Kek Iew, also known as “Comrade Duch,” was on trial for war crimes based on his involvement with the Khmer Rouge. During the trial, Kang Kek Iew said Ngor’s death was an assassination by the Khmer Rouge and that Pol Pot had ordered the hit because of the attention The Killing Fields got over the years.
Third-Party Suspects
Dr. Haing Ngor had many business ventures in the United States, Cambodia, and Singapore at the time of his murder. One such business deal involved the sale of a banking license. When the license ended up being worthless weeks after the sale, the buyer demanded a return of the funds or Haing Ngor would be murdered. It appears Ngor only returned half the funds.
Haing Ngor was also the owner of a lumber mill in Cambodia. Upon his death, his ownership interest in the mill transferred to his half-brother, and the mill was sold to questionable investors with ties to organized crime.
Law enforcement failed to sufficiently investigate the business dealings. In fact, before conducting a single witness interview, one of the lead investigators in the case “knew” the perpetrators were Chan, Lim, and Tan. The Innocence Center strongly believes others committed this crime and is working to investigate and identify the true perpetrators. Anyone with information about the crime is encouraged to provide it to The Innocence Center.
