A high-profile detective has revealed the investigation into the gruesome murder of a mother could be hampered by terrified witnesses being too scared to speak out.
Thi Kim Tran, 45, was grabbed at gunpoint from her Bankstown home, in southwest Sydney, by a group of five masked intruders on April 17 at about 10.30pm.
She was forced to strip in her driveway and dragged to a waiting SUV while her eight-year-old son was bashed with a baseball bat and left for dead.
Tran’s body was found in the burnt-out vehicle near Beverly Hills, about 6km from her home, an hour later.
Former Victoria Police homicide detective Charlie Bezzina told Daily Mail Australia the case was a shock to him and ‘off the Richter Scale’.
‘(Australians) are not used to that level of crime and I say that because it involves assaults allegedly on children. Of all the cases I’ve dealt with, I’ve never had that,’ he said.
Police said on April 22 that their inquiries found Ms Tran and her children were ‘likely targeted’ due to her partner, Tung Nguyen’s involvement in a criminal network.
When asked why the investigation has taken so long, with no arrests made since that revelation, Mr Bezzina said witnesses may be too afraid of the alleged assailants.
Police said mother-of-two Thi Kim Tran (pictured) was kidnapped from her family home late at night, with her remains found in a burnt-out SUV an hour later
Ms Tran was dragged out of her house in front of her two sons by five masked intruders
‘Any investigations undertaken into the underworld becomes very, very difficult because of a “cone of silence”,’ he said, a reference to prohibiting communication.
‘(The incident) sends a very clear message to all that the offenders have got no scruples which would send even more fear to anyone who might assist police.’
It’s believed a Vietnamese drug cartel messaged Mr Nguyen ransom countdown messages 20 minutes, 10 minutes and five minutes before Ms Tran’s body was set alight.
‘It’s unclear if he was out of service range or what, but he didn’t receive them,’ a police source told The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Bezzina said a cartel’s alleged involvement could mean the murder was also a ‘broader warning’ to other criminals that the group is ‘not to be messed with’.
The former detective said those allegedly involved could also have fled the country which will further complicate the investigation.
‘More often than not, the people who may well be involved depart overseas (if) the police get a whiff of who they (are),’ he said.
‘The problem is, in the early stages of investigation, (detectives) may have no idea to be able to put an alert on any points of departure.’
Former detective Charlie Bezzina said the gruesome nature of the incident will send a warning to anyone who intended to speak to the police
NSW Police Homicide Squad commander Detective Superintendent Joe Doueihi has previously revealed a gang was behind the savage murder.
He said officers believed there was a ‘conflict’ between Mr Nguyen and ‘upper echelons’ of the organised crime network.
‘This woman and her children were in no means involved or had knowledge of what their partner or their father was up to,’ Det Supt Doueihi said.
Mr Nguyen has been assisting investigators and has not been charged in relation to Ms Tran’s death.
Det Supt Doueihi alleged Mr Nguyen had worked for the organised crime group for ‘several months’ before the attack.
He was previously known to police for minor drug-related offences, he said.
Mr Bezzina warned there is a ‘high possibility’ the case might not be solved, claiming police ‘can’t really rely upon information coming forth’.
‘But police won’t be disheartened by that,’ he said.
‘They will just soldier on and continue as best they can. They will be going all out given the endless nature of this case.’
Mr Bezzina (pictured) has said the kidnap and murder of Ms Tran was ‘off the Richter Scale’ compared to cases he worked during his career
Police said Ms Tran may have been targeted as her partner was involved in a criminal network
Victoria Police executed a search warrant in April last year at an alleged drug lab in Springdallah, a rural Victorian town almost 1,000km from the Bankstown home.
Officers seized items consistent with the manufacture of prohibited drugs and the property has been a key part of the investigation, sources said.
They claimed a group of men had burst into a farmhouse on the property where drugs were being manufactured just weeks before Ms Tran’s death, looking for Mr Nguyen.
Mr Bezzina said the intelligence on the alleged lab was a ‘positive sign’.
‘It’s a hard slog, especially dealing with these type of group of criminals,’ he added.
‘But the potential is always there (for police) to be able to solve it. They’ll never give up.’
