Bucks County Woman Gets Life in Prison for Killing Two Sons

Keith Heffintrayer | North Penn Now•

Trinh Nguyen, 40, of Upper Makefield Township.

A Bucks County woman will spend the rest of her life in prison for killing her two sons in Upper Makefield Township in May 2022.

Trinh Nguyen, 40, was sentenced on Wednesday to two consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting deaths of 9-year-old Nelson Tini and 13-year-old Jeffrey Tini. Nguyen also pleaded guilty to one count of attempted murder, stemming from her attempt to kill her neighbor after killing her sons.

Both life sentences are without the possibility of parole. The sentence "will ensure that the defendant will die within the four walls of a correctional facility”, First Assistant District Attorney Jen Schorn said following Wednesday’s hearing.

Police were dispatched to the 100 block of Timber Ridge Road at 7:05 a.m. on May 2, 2022, for a report of an armed subject, identified as Nguyen, who had since fled the scene in a white minivan. Prior to fleeing, Nguyen handed her neighbor a box of photos and asked them to give the photos to her ex-husband, then pointed a gun at their face and pulled the trigger.

The gun didn't fire.

The neighbor then bearhugged Nguyen and disarmed her, at which point she fled. Investigators found both boys in their beds suffering from gunshot wounds to the head. They were both transported to an area hospital, with both boys dying several days later.

After fleeing the scene, Nguyen went to New Jersey to obtain drugs, which she ingested in an effort to kill herself, officials said. Police located Nguyen at approximately 11:30 a.m. inside of her minivan, which was parked outside of the United Methodist Church in Washington Crossing, and recovered .38 caliber ammunition, heroin and drug paraphernalia, and a note from inside the vehicle.

The note read:

"Please call 911! My children are dead In their bed at 110 Timber Ridge Road 18940.”

Investigators said Nguyen had planned the killings in advance, pointing to a handwritten will that was dated one week prior to the murders. Police also learned that Nguyen was being evicted from her residence, and was given a notice to vacate by May 3 — one day after the murders.

"It’s clear our evidence showed that this defendant had that wickedness of disposition that she had made these plans,” Schorn said. "She wrote a manifesto laying out what she was going to do, and you could see throughout the hate she had for others and the people she blamed.”

Levittown Now editor Tom Sofield contributed to this report.