Strangeland

During an epic battle over Haing Ngor's estate, disturbing details start trickling in about the actor's private life. The paper trail shows that Ngor had enemies all around him, and some believe he was murdered by someone close to him.

Many Cambodian refugees feel certain that Haing Ngor was killed for political reasons. The LAPD discounts these assassination theories. But then, a high-ranking Khmer Rouge officer gives a shocking testimony at a UN tribunal about the actor's murder.

We have a hard time getting direct knowledge of what happened on the night of the murder. So many people connected to this story have passed away or are still too scared to come forward. But then, out of the blue, we get a call from someone who knows better than just about anybody what did – and didn't – occur in that dark alley.

Just weeks after the gang members were convicted, a massive scandal erupts inside the LAPD. The root of the department's corruption is the CRASH program, an initiative to get gang members off the streets using any means necessary, including by framing suspects for crimes they didn't commit. And there's a startling connection between CRASH and the team investigating Haing Ngor's murder.

The juries deliver their verdicts. But that's just the beginning of a multi-decade legal battle, as claims of police and prosecutorial misconduct emerge. Years after the murder, a lawyer bumps into a judge who expresses some deep concerns about how the LAPD investigated the Ngor murder. It turns out that the prosecution's star witness was not what he seemed to be.

In an extremely unusual trial, the state of California makes its case against Jason Chan, Indra Lim, and Tak Sun Tan. An LAPD cop-turned-judge presides over a circus-like courtroom, in which three juries are crammed into one jury box. Witnesses drop bombshells on the stand and fireworks explode between a hotshot prosecutor and a ragtag bunch of defense attorneys.

LAPD detectives turn up the heat in their search for potential witnesses. The cops get two boys who were allegedly hanging out near the crime scene to ID three local gang members. But both witnesses later recant – saying that the police coerced their statements. With help from a renowned interrogation expert, we revisit the interrogationto ask what – if any –information extracted from the witnesses is reliable.

The shadow of the Khmer Rouge follows thousands of Cambodians to southern California. Terrified of authority and distrustful of one another, these refugees struggle to adapt to life in America. So when police canvas Chinatown asking about the Ngor murder, many stay silent – until the LAPD forces them to talk.

Most people involved in this case – the victim, two of three boys arrested for the murder, the main witnesses, and Haing's neighbors – were Cambodian refugees. So we return to the original crime scene – Pol Pot's killing fields – to understand how that tragedy shaped the way that the refugee community interacted with the LAPD.

We head to Chinatown to hear the LAPD's official account of the crime and retrace detectives' footsteps as they worked this case. Authorities recount their breaks in the investigation – from clues found at the crime scene to revelations inside the interrogation room. The cops explain how they were able to charge the accused teens without any hard evidence. It all centered on the mystery of a golden locket.

LAPD officers respond to a shooting in Chinatown and identify the murder victim as Oscar-winning actor Haing Ngor. They find $4000 in cash on his body, and rule out a robbery motive. But the cops later reverse course and charge three teens – Jason Chan, Indra Lim, and Tak Sun Tan. But many, including the main witnesses, think the LAPD got the wrong guys in their rush to solve this high-profile case.

In 1995, a Cambodian refugee was gunned down in an alley in L.A.'s Chinatown. But this wasn't a typical murder. The victim was Haing Ngor, an Oscar-winning actor and humanitarian. Many Cambodians believe Ngor was assassinated over his role in The Killing Fields – a film that depicted the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror. Three teenage gang members were convicted and sentenced to decades in prison for murder. Yet to this day, the Cambodian community remains unconvinced of the boys' guilt. In this season of Strangeland, journalist Ben Adair and Cambodian–American podcaster Mayly Tao piece through Haing Ngor's journey from genocide survivor to Hollywood start to murder victim – and re-investigate the LAPD's case to find out if justice was lost in translation.

Tips on the Narra case have been pouring in. Ben gives an update and shares your next podcast binge: Alphabet Boys.

Throughout our year-long investigation, Hanu has ignored our repeated attempts to contact him. So, in the Season Finale of Strangeland, we knock on his door to talk face-to-face.

A traumatized eyewitness walks us through his memory of March 23, 2017 - from Sasi and Anish’s arrival home that afternoon to Hanu’s puzzling behavior upon discovering the bodies. The Witness shares all ... including, a brand new lead. The biggest one yet.

There were some dramatic lifestyle change following the murders, alongside a strange donation to a Maple Shade charity. We investigate that, plus the ongoing legal battle for Sasi’s estate. There’s more than a million dollars at stake.

There was a third person at the Narra’s apartment the night of the murders - a woman whose odd behavior triggers some red flags. Could this alleged “family friend” be the same woman Sasi mentioned in her letter? We track her across the Philadelphia suburbs to ask her some crucial questions.

After months of searching, we find the mystery woman from the 911 call. She does a sit-down interview and reveals some shocking details about the crime scene.

Hanu and Sasi both worked for Cognizant - a Global IT company known for providing U.S. visas to Indian employees. But these immigration papers come with a major catch.

A former neighbor of the Narras gives a first-hand account of the family’s troubling dynamics. But, he says, it was Hanu’s behavior in the days following the murders that was even more concerning.

We discover a letter that Sasi wrote to her brother, Venu, a few years before her death.

The bodies of Sasikala and Anish Narra were shipped back to India for last rites amid an inter-family drama between Hanu’s and Sasi’s families.

Murdered son Anish Narra was beloved by those who knew him.

The Narra murders divide the sizable Indian community in South Jersey. Hanu’s closest confidants at the powerful Telugu Association of North America (TANA) keep strangely silent while other Indian cultural groups readily assist investigators in drumming up new leads. Is TANA trying to protect someone?

Following the murders, Sasi’s husband Hanu was taken in for questioning. But investigators soon let him go, saying his alibi holds up.

Maple Shade is a modern-day Mayberry, but in the Fox Meadow apartments, it’s a different story.

Hanumantha Narra arrives home from work to find the lifeless bodies of his wife and son.

Maple Shade, New Jersey is a quaint suburb; its slogan is “Nice Town, Friendly People.” But on the evening of March 23, 2017, an Indian tech worker, Sasikala Narra, and her six-year-old son, Anish, were found brutally murdered in their apartment.

The results of the new DNA tests are in, with big implications for Robin Cho, Byung Song, and the victims of this crime. So, the question is, will justice be served and how?

Ben and Sharon visit the lab that did the DNA testing that led to Robin Cho’s conviction. While touring the facility, they learn of DNA from the crime scene that’s never been tested.

It’s courtroom 101: the prosecution’s trying to make a case, the defense is trying to get their client off, and it’s the jury’s job to figure out the truth. But how much of the science that’s presented at court is actually scientific? Ben and Sharon look closely at specific pieces of evidence presented at trial and find out that some of the bedrock assumptions about evidence and crimes… could be wrong.

As part of Strangeland’s reinvestigation, Ben and Sharon have been keeping a list that goes way beyond culture clashes and misunderstandings. It shows that the prosecution’s already-tenuous motive for Cho is even less solid than they thought. At the same time, Cho’s behavior doesn’t do him any favors.

After almost eight weeks of trial and deliberations, there’s a verdict. However, though the jury has reached a decision, they don’t seem very confident when it comes to sentencing Robin Cho.

The man dubbed “The Koreatown Killer” heads to trial, and the prosecution presents its case — with no witnesses, no weapon, and no concrete motive. The jury must decide if one piece of evidence is enough to send Robin Cho to Death Row.

LAPD investigators pounce on Cho, interrogating him twice in the same day. After hours of getting nowhere, emotions boil over in the interrogation room. The cops eventually arrest him for murder… but they may have missed their chance to make the case.

LAPD detectives take their first crack at their new suspect. However, things just aren’t adding up for the cops — or for Robin Cho. Afterward, Cho leads the police on a wild ride across Los Angeles and exhibits some very suspicious behavior.

Who is this new suspect that the LAPD has pegged for the brutal Koreatown triple murder? A modest family man from the South Korean countryside who has some dark secrets — over two-and-a-half million of them. Do they add up to a motive for murder?

On May 5, 2003, Chi Hyon Song, a 30-year-old mother, along with her two-year-old son, and their 56-year-old nanny Eun Sik Min, were all slain, execution-style, in their modest apartment in Koreatown.   LAPD detectives first suspected Song’s husband, but his alibi was air tight. With no other suspects, the case goes cold. That is, until 2008, when a law enforcement DNA database turned up a new connection to the case.

STRANGELAND is a new series from audiochuck that is reexamining cases in immigrant neighborhoods. These investigations go where the police couldn’t to uncover the real story behind a headline crime.