After hearing this, and finally digging up the floor in Chens former house, the blood stain tested positive for blood. Thus, Edward Chen remains behind bars at the Baskerville Correctional Center in Baskerville, Virginia, and will be released in August 2033. In addition, two women testified that, in the 1970s, Bramblett had given them alcohol and molested them when they were eleven and fourteen years old.[1]. Fairfax Station/Clifton/Lorton Connection, Presidential Appointment for Mount Vernons Horticulture Director, Good Shepherd Partners with Amazon in Housing Quest, Expo Emphasizes Environmental Stewardship in Mount Vernon. She had grown up not only in the town but in the neighborhood where the Chens lived, which made it affect her even more. Read More: Catherine Kitty Pappas Murder: Is George Joseph Cvek Dead or Alive? Hong Chen, 52, Shirley Zhou, 48, and James Wenjie Chen, 16, were found dead in their. [5], Funeral services were held in Chinatown a month after the killings, to allow relatives from China to obtain visas and flights in order to attend. As reported by A&E, the brothers both enjoyed working with plants and were part of the school's garden club. When authorities arrived on the scene, they found 39-year-old Jin Feng Chen dead on the first floor of his home. Eventually, the police discovered blood splatters belonging to Wu-Hung at the Chen family home, but the bodies were never recovered. Other rumors suggest Chen hosted a gambling party at his home in the evening before he and his family were killed. [3], The Guilderland police responded, and soon began sealing off the crime scene, later assisted by the New York State Police, whose detectives were seen the following morning combing through the area behind and near the house. "That's satisfactory.". For example, Guilderland police had to find an interpreter who spoke the appropriate Chinese dialect to communicate with some of the people who knew the Chen family, local media reported. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. Bramblett was executed by electric chair on April 9, 2003. On May 29, 2019, Rachel Ozuna, her 14-year-old son Kyrrus and her boyfriend, Michael Coleman, were found in their Arlene Acres Drive home bound with their throats cut. A witness had seen a vehicle similar to Bramblett's driving past the Hodges home during the fire, without stopping. Wu-Hung and Weh-Mei Chen, natives of Taiwan, continued to frequently visit their two sons, Raymond and Edward, at their Great Falls home in Fairfax, Virginia. His parents disapproved, Horan said, and in summer 1995, they took Edward Chen back to Taiwan and placed him in a mental institution. Until one day, he told Mandy that she didnt have to worry anymore. Their daughter is now 6. They specifically believe the Chen family was killed between 3:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. As reported by A&E, authorities noted the bodies of Hai Yan Li, Anthony, and Eddy were covered in blankets. His final words were, "I didn't murder the Hodges family. To listen please click below or find us wherever you listen to podcasts. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Mandy and Ed met in high school, dated and were married for a few years. [Watch episodes of Cold Case Files in the A&E App.]. As part of his plea agreement, he was sentenced to 36 years in prison in December 2002. The crime. It was pretty devastating, Muller says of the crime. Police are asking anyone with information to call Detective Spooner at (703) 246-7800, or contact Crime Solvers by visiting http://www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or text-a-tip by texting TIP187 plus your message to CRIMES(274637). Ed had become very unhappy and even confrontational. The disturbing case of the Chen family from Fairfax County in Virginia .If you enjoy my narration, please subscribe to my channel and click the bell icon for more true crime stories every. Chen was initially charged with aggravated first-degree murder shortly after his son, Cooper Chen, and partner, Eric Cooper, were killed in the family's First Hill condominium. The woman told a police dispatcher that on Aug. 17, 1995, when Chen was 19, he shot his father, Wu-Hung Chen, 53; his mother, Yeh-Mei Chen, 52; and his brother, Raymond, 25. Investigators believe the family members were shot in their bedrooms, with a rifle, in the house in Great Falls. During their time there, a number of mysterious events occurred, including the "disappearance" of an illegitimate baby birthed by one of the students and the death of Mary's son, John, found burned to death in his bed. The church runs a childrens home in Guilderland, about five miles from the Chens home. On Saturday, police identified those killed as Shirley Zhou, 48, James Wenjie Chen, 16, and Hong Chen, 52. Shortly after, Edward Chen began dating Mandy Kolbe. Chen told relatives in Taiwan that his family had died in a car accident in the United States. Drawings of stick figures with arrows that corresponded to the Hodges' bullet wounds were found at Bramblett's place of employment. She believed him. In the spring of 2002, the Fairfax County police department received a phone call from Vickie Henry, who claimed that Wu-Hung, Weh-Mei, and Raymond had been murdered in August 1995. [6] Even so, Soares admitted at a news conference around the anniversary of the Chens' deaths that very little progress had been made. In 1998, according to court records, Chen assumed his brother's identity and began selling the family's homes. ", In addition to local authorities, The Daily Gazette reports that the FBI, Homeland Security, and state police have assisted in the investigation into the Chen family murders. Wu-Hung and Yei-Mei were constantly traveling to Taiwan, often leaving the two boys at home in their large home. Realizing that something was afoot, the police immediately got in touch with the Chens relatives from Taiwan, who insisted that Edward had informed them how a car accident claimed Wu-Hung, Weh-Mei, and Raymonds lives. Edward Y. Chen admitted in a Fairfax County courtroom yesterday that he shot his parents and older brother to death inside their Great Falls home in 1995, then left their bodies inside the house. All rights reserved, Metropolitan Police Department (DC Police / MPD), Family Awaits Return of DC Mother Missing for More Than 3 Weeks, Why Fans Say Trips to Disney World Are Now Incredibly Complicated' to Pull Off, This 28-Year-Old Ignored Warnings About Job-Hopping and Doubled Her Salary to $186K in 5 Years, Woman Who Smashed Bus Is Jailed Despite Defense's Report of Mental Illness, Daughter of Buccaneers LB Shaq Barrett Drowns in Family Pool. On Aug. 15, 2002, investigators found Michael and Mary Short dead inside their home in Henry County, Virginia. The autopsies were able to put the victims' time of death at between 3:30 and 6:30a.m. that day. He and his wife spent most of their time in Taiwan, giving rise to the assumption that is where they were, Horan said. [10] Later it was reported that police had found 18 mattresses on the floor in the basement of the Chen house, further suggesting that the family had been involved in trafficking undocumented workers. Fairfax County police believe Hong Chen fatally shot Zhou, his wife, and James Chen, his son. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2002/12/10/fairfax-man-admits-killing-parents-brother/5008dc2d-f891-41bf-bcff-c3f1aaeb9148/, https://www.monstersandcritics.com/tv/true-crime/murders-of-wu-hung-weh-mei-and-raymond-chen-by-edward-chen-spotlighted/, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2002/04/05/bodies-left-in-home-4-years-police-say/0b278b65-6233-4641-9a92-9db52de7ab2d/. However, Vickie was the one to end the relationship. The investigation was also made difficult by the reluctance of possible witnesses to come forward, as many were undocumented immigrants. [3] The family offered a $5,000 reward,[5] and Soares promised that, to the extent he could, his office would not initiate any actions that would result in deportation against anyone who had information to share, but neither offer induced much cooperation with the police. However, Ed eventually took a plea deal, and admitted to three counts of first degree murder. No homes or businesses in the immediate vicinity of the Chens had security cameras that might have provided footage to review. The couple immigrated to the United States in the early 2000s. Tom Jackman has been covering criminal justice for The Washington Post since 1998 and anchors the True Crime blog. [2] Firefighters and police found fire burning throughout the house. It was discovered that Bramblett punched his time card at work 20 minutes after the fire was started (the drive time from the Hodges home to his job was 20 minutes) and, after realizing his error, attempted to black out the entry on his time-card. Related Features: The family member saw a body through a window of the home and called for help. In the early afternoon of October 8, 2014, a coworker of Jin Chen, 39, of Guilderland, New York, United States found the bodies of Chen, his wife and their two children in their home. It is rumored that Jin Feng Che was heavily involved in the underground network and personally handled many of the transactions, often keeping large amounts of money in his home. Tips can also be submitted by calling 1-866-411-TIPS(8477), or call Fairfax County Police at (703) 691-2131. . "We think there is sufficient evidence" for the charges, Horan said, "with or without the bodies.". Jin Feng Chen and Hai Yan Li were natives of China's Fujian province. Unfortunately, they have not been able to identify any viable suspects or persons of interest. Although he admitted Chen hosted card games, he said they were intimate events that were only attended by family and close friends (viaA&E). The Chen's were very successful business people, they lived in a nice mansion in a very wealthy neighborhood. He was 20 when his family disappeared, according to police. Ed admitted to everything. He said that Mandy Chen had not committed a crime and that the statute of limitations had expired for Reese's part in the crime. A year after the killings, P. David Soares, Albany Countys district attorney, offered immunity from immigration charges to anyone who came forward with information. The police could tell when she was telling them about it she was being honest, and she was having to relive the horrific day. Mandy was confused, until Ed said they were dead and he could prove it to her. According to some reports, large amounts of cash which came from various sources financed an underground network of undocumented Chinese citizens living in the area. I hope Eds rotting in his prison cell thinking about he did. Vickie said she had information about her exs dead family that were killed in August of 1995. Earl Conrad Bramblett (March 20, 1942 April 9, 2003) was an American mass murderer, convicted for the killing of four members of the Hodges family in August 1994 in Vinton, Virginia. I think he should have gotten life in prison, because he can still get out around age 60 for good behavior, according to one of the articles. A deputy's body cam video . As reported by A&E, some sources have suggested Jin Feng Chenwas involved in an operation involving undocumented Chinese restaurant employees throughout the region. Also, how do you WILLINGLY help someone cut up bodies and dump them. A World Journal reporter in attendance later told the Albany Times-Union that she and her colleagues believed the family knew more about what might have led to the killings than they were ready to say publicly. However, Mandy never turned Ed in, they got married, had a child together and were married for about two years. "We've done a lot of work here.". July 6, 2017. "We really love this house," he said. "I want to apologize to my family and friends," Chen said in court, speaking publicly for the first time, "especially my daughter, for what I put them through. Ive never heard about this case until today, and Im so mind blown. [2], Earl Bramblett, from Spartanburg, South Carolina, was a close friend of the Hodges family. Police requested an interview with Bramblett, during which they told him the family had died in a fire, without mentioning the evidence of violence. Chen will be eligible for geriatric release when he is 60, after serving about 33 years. As reported by A&E, one of Chen's coworkers went to his home to find out why he did not show up for work. The bodies of Wu Hong Chen, 53; Shieh Yeh-Mei Chen, 52, and Raymond Chen, 26, have never been found. HENRY COUNTY, Va. - It's a case that's gone unsolved for almost two decades. She declined to set bond. Chen Jinfeng () and his similarly aged wife, Hai Yan Li (), natives of Houyu[5] in the province of Fujian on the southeastern shore of mainland China, came to the U.S. in the early 2000s. Since he continued to live comfortably without any obvious income, it was widely believed in Chinatown that he was making his money in some illegal way, the source said. Disappearances of Tammy Akers and Angela Rader, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, List of people executed in the United States in 2003, "Family's Killer Dies in Va. Electric Chair", "Forensic Files Episode List - Forensic Files", "THE NEW DETECTIVES Season 4 Ep 4 "Dead Wrong", Forensic Files - Season 8, Episode 16: "Private Thoughts" (22 minutes), The New Detectives - Season 4, Episode 4: "Dead Wrong" (53 minutes), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Earl_Bramblett&oldid=1148180202, People executed by Virginia by electric chair, 21st-century executions of American people, Articles needing additional references from April 2018, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 4 April 2023, at 15:06. Since his English was extremely limited, he had to ask another coworker, a relative of the Chens, to call 9-1-1 for him. Despite an investigation involving multiple law enforcement agencies that reached as far as Canada and China, the brutal killings of a family of four in upstate New York remain unsolved. The statue of limitations had expired. said in a October 6, 2015 press conference, Anyone with any information about the case, Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible: The Mysterious Murders of Teenage Best Friends. The police decided to go the Chen house, but at this point it was owned by another couple. Feng Lu, 58, was taken into custody when he landed in San Francisco on a flight from China, Gonzalez said. Nonetheless, it was impossible to mount a case without bodies, and despite Edwards former friend, Michael Reese, claiming he helped the former dump the bodies in the Chesapeake Bay, the police were unable to locate them. At the time of his arrest he was living in an apartment he rented at Worldgate in Herndon. Chen, the newspaper said, had allegedly been involved in large transfers of unrecorded cash used to pay undocumented Chinese workers at restaurants in the New York City area, the Capital District and beyond,[9] transporting them from Chinatown to their jobs and back and providing accommodation in cities too far away for day bus trips. It's been nearly 20 years since someone murdered nine-year-old Jennifer Short and her parents. Still, law enforcement officials could not find any evidence of complaints or criminal records related to the Chen family, and their neighbors did not report seeing any conflicts between family members. Michael said he would cut them up and throw them in the ocean. People still talk about it., As for whether he believes the Chens will ever get justice, Gosh, he says, after pausing a beat. Michael Reese was not charged with his crime. A DNA test on a pubic hair found in the bedroom where the girls were found was matched to Bramblett. She immediately asked her then-partner to explain, and he stated that he had bought a rifle and murdered his brother and parents. The bullets used to kill the victims were determined to be of the same composition as bullets found in a vehicle belonging to Bramblett. He killed his bother Raymond first, and shot him in the upper chest area. I watched an episode of Deadline Crime for my research on this case. "I shot them. They dismembered the bodies, poured concrete on them, put them in duffel bags and took them out to the Chesapeake Bay and dumped them. When authorities arrived on the scene, they found 39-year-old Jin Feng Chen dead on the . 7994 Audubon Avenue, #101, Alexandria, VA 22306 - Kenneth J. Russell was murdered here. [3][7] In the first such incident, three members of the same familya married couple and the wife's sisterwere found stabbed in their D'Iberville, Mississippi, home in 2011. With a trial set for yesterday, Chen's attorneys, Peter D. Greenspun and Jonathan Shapiro, negotiated a deal. "This is truly peculiar.". Hello, listeners. Upstairs, they discovered the bodies of his 38-year-old wife Hai Yan Li, his 10-year-old son Anthony, and his 7-year-old son Eddy. It was determined that it was Wu-Hungs blood. ", Fostin said the family moved in two years ago. [4], Investigators were also looking at possible connections with two other unsolved killings of Chinese immigrant families that had occurred elsewhere in the U.S. during the 2010s. VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) The family of a man shot and killed in 2017 has filed a lawsuit against the security guard accused of his murder as well as his employer and a community association. [1] Chief Lawlor said, nonetheless, that there had been no evidence her department knew of that anything illegal was going on at the Chens' house or another one next door that had also been occupied by Chinese immigrants. I hope so.. While the family was considered good-natured and quite generous, people who knew them mentioned how they would frequently travel to Taiwan to meet their relatives. I dont believe hes sorry about what he did. . "It was a shock to us to find this out," said Al Fostin, the owner. But after the March 19 phone call to police by Chen's ex-girlfriend, Vickie Henry, detectives quickly investigated and arrested Chen on March 29. Chen had owned a restaurant, but the business was all but closed for about two years, leading to questions about how he made a living, sources also told the newspaper. Vickie started becoming suspicious when she would get phone calls about a Raymond Chen, Eds brother. In a strange and surprising development, one Vickie Henry called the Fairfax County police department and claimed that she had information about the murders of Wu-Hung, Weh-Mei, and Raymond Chen. Not just that, he later sold the house in 1999, when a pipe burst caused flooding. Ed Chen murdered his mother, father, and brother in their home and went undiscovered until . Police believe the murders took place sometime between 3:30 and 6:30 a.m. Chen was found downstairs, while his wife and two children were found upstairs, covered with blankets, the Albany Times Union reported. When he told the same story in the United States, he changed the location of the car wreck to Taiwan, Horan said. Though police are searching for the family's remains, Horan, who's never lost a murder trial, said he thinks he can get a conviction even without the bodies. Chen and his wife were from the province of Fujian, on the southeastern coast of China, and came to the United States in the early 2000s. The police believed that Ed Chen had killed his family, but they needed proof. Fairfax County tax records indicate that while the family home changed hands in 2000 for $310,000, it is valued at $702,780 for tax purposes today. Tune in next week to hear from our favorite neighborhood papaya hater. American Chinese-language media, such as the newspapers World Journal and Sing Tao, widely read among recent immigrants, also sent reporters to cover the case. HENRY COUNTY, Va. A decades-old murder case now has new leads. Ed said he had to use his brothers name to take care of his familys business accounts. Soares said law enforcement officials are dealing with "one of the most complicated sets of circumstances [they] ever experienced in an investigation.". The brutal, unsolved quadruple homicide has affected the community deeplyand is still on peoples minds, Pastor Charlie Muller told A&E True Crime. Gaining entry, authorities found 37-year-old Teresa Lynn Hodges' body on a couch, still burning she had been strangled and doused with diesel fuel. [2] Bramblett displayed anger and stated that the "son of a bitch offed his family and killed himself", which indicated prior knowledge and immediately made him a prime suspect.[1]. Despite more than 600 leads in the case, investigators couldnt zero in on any suspects. Law enforcement officials determined all four victims were stabbed and beaten, with a vast majority of the injuries on their faces and heads. People who knew the family stated how they routinely traveled to Taiwan to meet their relatives, despite the fact that they were thought to be kind-hearted and relatively kind. Taiwan natives Wu-Hung and Weh-Mei Chen kept frequenting their Great Falls residence in Fairfax, Virginia, to visit their two sons, Raymond and Edward. EDWARD CHEN, who attended the University of Virginia for a time, apparently lived in the Great Falls house for a time before he moved to Herndon, fathered a child, and divorced her mother, Horan said. SINCE 1995, when his family disappeared, Chen has told people in the family's native country, Taiwan, that his family died in a car wreck in the United States. Jin Feng Chen and Hai Yan Li were natives of China's Fujian province. The Unsolved Chen Family Murders of Upstate New York Remain Shrouded in Mystery, https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/chen-family-murder. Do you still find out new things about old friends that are surprising, like military school or bachelor party destinations? [5], A week after the killings, the Times-Union reported that there was some evidence to support those claims as the New York City Police Department (NYPD) began assisting by investigating possible leads in its jurisdiction. Two sons, Anthony and Eddy, were born in 2004 and 2007 respectively. [1] Further investigation determined that the barrel of the murder weapon had been removed after Blaine had been killed, and that Blaine had been killed before the rest of his family. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. It was implied that Chang and his family might have been killed by an attendee who knew he kept large amounts of cash in the house. The murders captivated the region for decades. Soares said, "The reasons why you would take the life of children? [3], Technological factors also made collecting evidence difficult. HARRIS COUNTY, Texas A man accused in a 2014 quadruple murder in the Cypress area was arrested Sunday, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. However, they did not find any links to the Chen family or the murders. Anthony and Eddy Chen attended Guilderland Elementary School, where they were both described as happy and thoughtful students. Edward Chen Mandy got pregnant and Edward married her. The episode, dubbed "Ghosts of Great Falls," contains dramatizations of real-life events. All Rights Reserved. I personally think 36 years is a light sentence for 3 brutal murders. The woman who alerted authorities three years ago to a triple murder in Great Falls, committed by her ex-boyfriend Edward Y. Chen, pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Alexandria to. [5], Newsday reported a month after the crime that state police had been putting up bilingual fliers seeking information and tips in restaurants and stores along East Broadway, in the section of Chinatown that, due to its high concentration of Fujianese immigrants in recent years, has increasingly come to be known as Little Fuzhou. Edward Chen, the Chens' younger son and Raymond's younger brother, is now charged with three counts of murder. In a second bed they found daughters Winter (aged 11) and Anah (aged 3); both had been shot at close range, and Anah had sustained mild burns. A picture of Eds mom, Yei-Mei and their mansion. He recalled the boys playing in the backyard while their mother gardened and kept watch. The police said he was very matter of fact and didnt show much emotion. In this episode we tell the story of Edward Chen and crimes he committed in the late 1990s in Great Falls, Virginia. Although the childs mother is in the area, care for the child will have to be sorted out by some court, Horan said. [5], Police were slow to release information, and much of what was reported in the early days of the case came from relatives of the Chens who talked to the Chinese media at a news conference in New York City's Chinatown. Fairfax County, Va, officials arrest 27-year-old Edward Chen for 1995 murders of parents and brother (S) If you missed the program, you can watch it online. What exactly do you call a gathering of Chads? This was a very intentional act with very intended targets, Soares said in a October 6, 2015 press conference. Her sisters, Caroline and Mary, were widows who helped the unmarried Virginian run the boarding school for girls. [5], Bramblett's case was featured on the popular CourtTV crime show Forensic Files - Season 8, Episode 16: "Private Thoughts"[6] and Discovery Channel's The New Detectives - Season 4, Episode 4: "Dead Wrong".[7]. He did, however, concede that Chen had indeed often had his friends over for low-stakes card games. Joseph Paul Franklin, a white supremacist and serial killer, confessed to the murders. Bramblett reportedly told friends that he wished he had not "hurt Tammy" three years after she went missing, though he was never charged in either Akers's or Rader's disappearances and their whereabouts are still unknown. I've never murdered anybody. [5], Around midday on October 8, 2014, a coworker of Chen's at the King's Wok restaurant where he worked became concerned when he had not reported for work or called to say he would be absent or late. The Chen family, Wu-Hung, 53, Yei-Mei, 52, Raymond, 25, and Edward, moved from Taiwan to Fairfax, Virginia. Edward Y. Chen pleaded guilty this morning to three counts of first-degree murder, admitting that he shot his parents and older brother to death in their Great Falls home in 1995, then left. They asked Vickie if she would call Ed and record him confessing. As part of a plea agreement, Edward eventually pled guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and admitted that he had purchased a rifle and shot Wu-Hung, Weh-Mei, and Raymond Chen dead in August 1995. Although the police had no idea that the family was missing, she claimed that the triple murder occurred in August 1995. He was 20 when his family disappeared, according to police. In a 2019 interview with 6 News, Muller said the money is still available to anyone providing information leading to an arrest and conviction in the murders of the Chen family. [3], Further inspection of the Hodges house revealed purposefully-disconnected telephone lines and the presence of a petroleum-based accelerant in several areas. It remains disturbing to us to have this case open, McNally says. Open Case Virginia: Fire Fuels Fresh Suspicion About Short Family Murders (WDBJ7 News) Short Family's Former Henry County Home Destroyed by Fire; Cause Unknown (WSLS News) If you know anything about the murder of the Short family, please call the FBI's major case contact center at 1-800-225-5324, or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov However, there was little other evidence suggesting who killed the family or why. He was sixty-one years old at the time of his death, choosing the electric chair over lethal injection as a form of protest. Never miss a story by signing up for the newsletter now. After the boys deaths, the local school district created a memorial scholarship in their name to benefit a graduating senior going into a field of study related to the environment.
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