Students are mourning the death of a Cal State Long Beach alumna, who was also a contributing writer and illustrator for the campus’ weekly newspaper The Union.
LAPD detectives told local media that Lisa Nguyen, a 27-year-old recent graduate, was murdered on the morning of Jan. 9 by her father Bach Xuan Nguyen.
“I was in shock because she was so young and it happened so suddenly,” said Melinda McCrady, a 2004 CSULB graduate and former editor of the Union Weekly.
Nguyen, who also freelanced for Circle Group Inc. as an illustrator, was known by her friends to be “vibrant, extroverted, smart and witty.”
A working graphic designer, she graduated from CSULB as an art major last spring. Her concentration was graphic design.
“She was extremely social, and there was never a dull moment with Lisa,” Robin Richesson, a professor of illustration and costuming at CSULB, told LA Weekly. “I expected to watch her grow, and follow her progress from London, where she was planning to move. A pint-sized powerhouse, she will never be forgotten.”
Nguyen’s friends felt the same way about her.
“I feel blessed to have known such a thoroughly beautiful person who taught me to live life with enthusiasm, and to be grateful for the ones you love,” McCrady said.
Her father, 61-year-old Bach Xuan Nguyen, allegedly murdered his wife and daughter only to jump off a 12-story retirement home in San Pedro. The man left a suicide note with an unnamed relative before falling to his death.
McCrady recounted her shock after hearing about the incident.
“A mutual friend happened to be visiting me when she received a phone call from another one of our friends,” McCrady said. “I couldn’t believe [Lisa had died] so I kept asking ‘are you sure?’ Even after the facts were confirmed I still had trouble accepting it.”
According to LA Weekly, Nguyen was in town visiting her parents on a two-week vacation.
LAPD officer Karen Rayner told City News Service that while the autopsy had yet to be completed by Jan. 10, the blunt force trauma or asphyxiation was the cause of Nguyen’s death.
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