Father Accused of Throwing 4 Kids off Bridge

WSAV.com is learning more about the man who confessed to police in Alabama, that he threw four children off a bridge. The family once lived in Liberty County.. click here for the story.

All of the children were under age three, the youngest was just four months old.

This is a picture of the three older children. It happened in Bayou La Batre.. just south of Mobile.

Police say 37-year-old Lam Luong confessed to throwing the children from the Dauphin Island Bridge, suspended 80-feet above the Gulf of Mexico.

Luong came to coastal Alabama from Vietnam in 1984 and worked in the commercial fishing industry as a shrimper, Police Chief John Joyner and a relative said. He had argued with his wife, Ngoc Phan, before taking the children, he said.

The couple lived with Phan's mother at Bayou La Batre, a fishing village with a large Southeast Asian community. Phan's brother-in-law Kam Phengsisomboun, who is from Thailand, said the couple moved back to the area from Hinesville, Ga., only a couple of weeks ago.

They argued Sunday night and again Monday, he said. Luong left the home with two of the children, then later came back for the other two, he said.

The family initially feared the children had been traded to support a drug habit, Phengsisomboun said. Luong had a crack cocaine habit and had spent an insurance settlement from an automobile accident rapidly, he said, and authorities confirmed Luong had a history of drug offenses.

___

Update from sister station WKRG - Mobile:

The family tells News 5 that the youngest child, a four month old had heart problems and had just gotten out of the hospital. Cam Phengsisomboun, the children's uncle, says the family's home flooded during Hurricane Katrina and they moved to Hinesville, Georgia. They had just returned to South Mobile County.

Phengsisomboun also tells News 5 there may be a witness to the crime. He says a Dauphin Island man spotted a van that looks like the one belonging to the family on the bridge. Phengsisomboun says the witness saw three children in the back of the van and a man with a plastic bag.

____

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. (AP) - Authorities are searching coastal waters today for the bodies of four children after police said they were thrown off a coastal Alabama bridge by their father. He is charged with four counts of capital murder.

Bayou La Batre Detective Scott Riva said 37-year-old Lam Luong of Irvington confessed last night to driving to the Dauphin Island bridge, stopping and tossing the youngsters off the span, which is as high as 80 feet above the water in places.

Riva said at least three boats are being used in the search and the Coast Guard is sending another boat and a helicopter. Riva said, "it's been a nightmare."

Missing and presumed dead were 4-month-old Danny Luong; 1-year-old Lindsey Luong; 2-year-old Hannah Luong; and 3-year-old Ryan Phan.

Luong is jailed in Mobile.

Police said Luong reported the children missing Monday. He reportedly told authorities that a woman who had the children failed to return them to him.

More details - see video and read more here on wkrg.com