Chao Fa
19-12-2005, 01:08
http://www.hmongtoday.com/displaynews.asp?ID=1827
Wednesday, January 12 was one of the coldest nights this winter. So when 13-year-old Pa Houa Yang did not come home after school like she usually does, her parents Chang Dang Yang and Sai Hang quickly reported their missing daughter to the authorities.
Described by friends and family members as being dependable and respectful towards authority figures, the mystery became more frightening when her parents discovered Pa Houa had not been in school that Wednesday either.
“That’s when we knew something was terribly wrong,” the grieving mother recalled. “Pa Houa has never skipped a day of school in her life.”
Worry turned to fear. And fear turned to grief as the weekend passed with no word about their daughter. “We couldn’t sleep.”
It wasn’t until 10:00 PM on Monday, January 17 – five days since they last seen or heard from their daughter—when the police came knocking at their North Minneapolis residence.
The police informed them that they found a body fitting the description of their daughter, but that a positive identification had to me made to confirm their suspicions.
“At this point, we were in shock because we were holding on with the hope that Pa Houa was still safe somewhere.”
After providing the police with a detailed description of their daughter, the disheartened parents patiently waited until 3:00 the next day before the police returned.
“When they confirmed it was Pa Houa, my heart dropped. I didn’t want to hear what the police had to tell us.”
According to reports, a man retrieving his jacket from his broken-down van found the frozen body of Pa Houa lying in his vehicle, dead from a bullet wound in her head.
Hardly any other clues were reportedly found, but as Lt. Lee Edwards from the Minneapolis police told the Star Tribune, “We’re working hard, looking at all aspects of the case and throwing all available resources at it. The community is outraged over this.”
The tragedy has sparked community activists from outside the Hmong community to speak out against violence in Minneapolis.
“There is so much murder that people are becoming numb to it,” shouted Spike Moss during a press conference with other prominent figures from the African-American community surrounding him. “The community has the responsibility to bring these people who did these crimes to justice.”
Ilean Her from the Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans found the slaying to be so disturbing she was provoked to send out a public announcement to express her condolences and to make a public plea for help on solving the murder.
“We grieve with the family at the loss of their loved one, at the loss of a future so abruptly terminated.”
At Pa Houa’s funeral, family members questioned how such a nice, quiet girl could fall to such a violent and abrupt end.
“She had everything going for her,” 23-year-old Kang Yang questioned about his first cousin’s death. “She was just a really nice girl who never got into any trouble.”
Besides her parents, Pa Houa is leaving her five brothers and sisters behind. At this point, the family has contemplated moving away from the neighborhood in North Minneapolis where they have called home for the last 14 years, “but will wait to sort things through.”
The family prays that the police will eventually solve the mystery of what happened to their daughter. However, they remain puzzled as to why the police delayed in coming forward with the information that they found a girl fitting the description of their daughter who was reported missing.
“Pa Houa was found on Friday. We want to know why the police didn’t come to us until Monday night?”
Sai Hang went on to question the honesty of the police coroner when she was told there was no sign of a physical struggle and no sexual assault before Pa Houa died. But when the family was dressing Pa Houa, they noticed there were multiple scratches on her hand, “clearly indicating that some kind of fighting occurred.”
Any information that might help solve this case is greatly needed. Please contact the Minneapolis police at 612-673-2941 if you think you can contribute.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
To this day this story still bothers me...
Who would had done this to such a sweet innocent 13 year old girl...
sometime... I'll just wonder why do we live in a crappy world with really stupid stupid people.... Who would have done such a thing to a poor young girl... Damn these people are sick.
Wednesday, January 12 was one of the coldest nights this winter. So when 13-year-old Pa Houa Yang did not come home after school like she usually does, her parents Chang Dang Yang and Sai Hang quickly reported their missing daughter to the authorities.
Described by friends and family members as being dependable and respectful towards authority figures, the mystery became more frightening when her parents discovered Pa Houa had not been in school that Wednesday either.
“That’s when we knew something was terribly wrong,” the grieving mother recalled. “Pa Houa has never skipped a day of school in her life.”
Worry turned to fear. And fear turned to grief as the weekend passed with no word about their daughter. “We couldn’t sleep.”
It wasn’t until 10:00 PM on Monday, January 17 – five days since they last seen or heard from their daughter—when the police came knocking at their North Minneapolis residence.
The police informed them that they found a body fitting the description of their daughter, but that a positive identification had to me made to confirm their suspicions.
“At this point, we were in shock because we were holding on with the hope that Pa Houa was still safe somewhere.”
After providing the police with a detailed description of their daughter, the disheartened parents patiently waited until 3:00 the next day before the police returned.
“When they confirmed it was Pa Houa, my heart dropped. I didn’t want to hear what the police had to tell us.”
According to reports, a man retrieving his jacket from his broken-down van found the frozen body of Pa Houa lying in his vehicle, dead from a bullet wound in her head.
Hardly any other clues were reportedly found, but as Lt. Lee Edwards from the Minneapolis police told the Star Tribune, “We’re working hard, looking at all aspects of the case and throwing all available resources at it. The community is outraged over this.”
The tragedy has sparked community activists from outside the Hmong community to speak out against violence in Minneapolis.
“There is so much murder that people are becoming numb to it,” shouted Spike Moss during a press conference with other prominent figures from the African-American community surrounding him. “The community has the responsibility to bring these people who did these crimes to justice.”
Ilean Her from the Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans found the slaying to be so disturbing she was provoked to send out a public announcement to express her condolences and to make a public plea for help on solving the murder.
“We grieve with the family at the loss of their loved one, at the loss of a future so abruptly terminated.”
At Pa Houa’s funeral, family members questioned how such a nice, quiet girl could fall to such a violent and abrupt end.
“She had everything going for her,” 23-year-old Kang Yang questioned about his first cousin’s death. “She was just a really nice girl who never got into any trouble.”
Besides her parents, Pa Houa is leaving her five brothers and sisters behind. At this point, the family has contemplated moving away from the neighborhood in North Minneapolis where they have called home for the last 14 years, “but will wait to sort things through.”
The family prays that the police will eventually solve the mystery of what happened to their daughter. However, they remain puzzled as to why the police delayed in coming forward with the information that they found a girl fitting the description of their daughter who was reported missing.
“Pa Houa was found on Friday. We want to know why the police didn’t come to us until Monday night?”
Sai Hang went on to question the honesty of the police coroner when she was told there was no sign of a physical struggle and no sexual assault before Pa Houa died. But when the family was dressing Pa Houa, they noticed there were multiple scratches on her hand, “clearly indicating that some kind of fighting occurred.”
Any information that might help solve this case is greatly needed. Please contact the Minneapolis police at 612-673-2941 if you think you can contribute.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
To this day this story still bothers me...
Who would had done this to such a sweet innocent 13 year old girl...
sometime... I'll just wonder why do we live in a crappy world with really stupid stupid people.... Who would have done such a thing to a poor young girl... Damn these people are sick.