A Rosemead man convicted of killing his mother and burying her body in the backyard was sentenced
August 14th to 26 years to life in state prison, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.
John Taylor Huynh, 30, was found guilty by a jury on March 20 of first-degree murder. Jurors also found true an allegation that the defendant personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a knife, in the commission of the crime.
Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Valenzuela, who prosecuted the case, said Huynh walked into the
Alhambra Police Department on May 20, 2011 and told authorities that sometime in 2001 he killed his mother, Hong Tu Phuong.
Furthermore, Huynh said he buried her body in the backyard of their rented El Monte condominium.
Officials went to the home and discovered the victim’s body in a shallow grave, the prosecutor said. It was later determined that Phuong was stabbed to death.
During the trial, the defendant testified that he moved out of the condo a week after the killing. When people asked about his mother’s whereabouts, Huynh provided various excuses, including that she had died of cancer and, in some instances, she had moved to Vietnam.
The case was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau.
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