A Montgomery County Circuit Court judge sentenced a man to life in prison Tuesday for stabbing a woman to death and trying to kill two others in a Silver Spring-area home more than two years ago.
Biet Van Tran, 65, was charged with killing Linh Pham, 23, in a home on Balmoral Drive in May 2020, Montgomery County police have said.
According to police, the mother of Pham’s boyfriend, Quy Luc, now 32, owned the home where the stabbing took place but was no longer living there because she had previously had a stroke and was staying in a rehabilitation center. Tran, the boyfriend of Luc’s mother, was living at the home, according to authorities.
The three victims were visiting the D.C. area from their home in Florida when the attack occurred, according to authorities.
On May 11, 2020, Luc and Tran had an argument about money in the basement of the home, and Tran stabbed Luc with a knife, according to police. When Luc ran from the home to get help, Tran ran into Pham on the main floor and stabbed her as he followed her up the steps. Pham went into a bedroom where she died from her injuries.
Pham’s roommate, Thi Nyguen, now 22, was also stabbed multiple times by Tran, severely injuring her, according to police.
After the attack, Tran told police that he killed someone and asked to be taken to jail, according to authorities. He was arrested the next day.
In April 2022, Tran was convicted by a jury of one count of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree attempted murder. On Tuesday, Circuit Court Judge Sharon Burrell sentenced Tran to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder charge. He also received an additional 55 years in prison on the two attempted murder counts, according to the State’s Attorney’s Office.
State’s Attorney John McCarthy said in a statement Tuesday that Tran’s action was “about as vicious an attack as you can possibly imagine.”
“As Judge Burrell stated in court, Biet Van Tran committed the ultimate crime against these three innocent victims and will pay the ultimate punishment,” he said.
Clayton Bailey, an attorney who represents Tran, could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@bethesdamagazine.com
