Do Trieu was a 68-year-old Vietnamese man who disappeared from his
Wellington home on Rolleston Street, Mt Cook, on or soon after 20 August 2008.
He was well known by his neighbours in the block of flats where he lived. He
was a much-loved father and grandfather. His disappearance was upgraded from
missing person to homicide in 2013.
Trieu, his wife Chi Nguyen and friends, went on holiday to Rotorua on 18
August 2008, returning to Wellington two days later. After not hearing from her
father for three weeks, Trieu’s worried daughter reported him missing.
Chi Nguyen, Trieu’s fourth wife, advised he had gone to Auckland on business
on 21 August and that he’d called her from there.
Police know that Trieu’s cell phone was not used after 20 August,
which means Nguyen’s claim of being contacted via Trieu’s cell phone is not correct.
Police considered the possibility Trieu had gone to Vietnam, but
investigations revealed he only had a New Zealand passport, and it has not been
used.
He had several bank accounts. Two days after the last confirmed sighting of
Trieu, his bankcard was used in Cuba Mall, central Wellington. There was
an unsuccessful attempt to withdraw funds from Trieu’s personal account.
In May 2013, Wellington police reopened the cold case. “We’ve gleaned new
information from the public and I can’t go into that information in any
detail,” said Detective Senior Sergeant Warwick McKee. In August 2013, they
ripped up floorboards, dug up earth at Trieu’s Housing NZ home in Mt Cook, and
swept his car for DNA. They did not find a body.
“I was waiting the police a long, long time,” says his daughter, Hanh Trieu.
“[It has been] very hard for my family. Every day I have been waiting for
police and my mum from Vietnam too has been waiting every day.”
His family says he has been visiting them in spirit.
“His soul comes over and tells her he’s been missing,” says granddaughter
Hamy Trieu. “She said that his face is all bloody and that someone dug up a
grave and put him quite deep into the earth.”
Trieu’s family believes those he was travelling with, his wife and two
friends, know what happened and should speak up.
Two months after Trieu’s disappearance, his young, second wife went back to
Vietnam, and soon after that his daughter got a call from his bank to say she
had been accessing his accounts, drawing money with his bankcards that he
always kept in his pocket.
Any information should be given to the Police Cold Case team by phoning 0800
2653 2273.
Links
https://www.police.govt.nz/stolenwanted/coldcase/2019/do-trieu-operation-dustin-wellington-2008
https://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/family-of-cold-case-victim-do-trieu-speaks-out-2013090716
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/10661369/Daughter-waits-for-her-dad-8-years-on
New Zealand Mysteries 