A Gaithersburg man going through a “messy divorce” killed his 12-year-old step-daughter by stabbing her more than 40 times, authorities said.
Prosecutor Stephen Chaikin described the brutal slaying at a bond hearing Wednesday for 42-year-old David R. Hang, who is charged with first-degree murder in Jessica Nguyen’s May 31 death.
“He was very angry at the victim’s family,” Chaikin said.
Hang and Nguyen’s mother were in the middle of a contested divorce, according to officials and court papers.
Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said DNA on a knife sheath and a bootprint linked Hang to the killing. He also took the afternoon of the slaying off from his job with Montgomery County’s Ride-On bus service, charging documents say.
Hang had lived in Nguyen’s home in 2005 and 2006, but not since then, Manger said.
He said there were no signs of forced entry to the home on the 700 block of Raven Avenue, so police focused their search on family members and others with access to the townhouse. As officers began to eliminate people, he said, “Mr. Hang became more of a suspect.”
Manger said there was “a lot of bad blood” between Hang and Nguyen’s mother, who were in the middle of “a pretty messy divorce.”
Manger said he didn’t know whether the girl was targeted or if she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Police had not received about reports of domestic violence in the family, he said.
According to divorce papers filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court, Hang told Nguyen’s mother that “his mistress is pregnant with his child,” requiring a quick divorce.
Authorities said Hang was married to at least one other woman, and were investigating whether he was running a sham-marriage scam.
Hang is being held without bond. Through a video hookup from the county jail, he said in court Wednesday that he was a “good husband” and works hard.
