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A life full of drama takes a tragic turn

Her life in the bay area started when she came from Vietnam seven years ago. But what led her to leave a baby's body in a trash bin?

By ALEX LEARY
Published November 4, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - He had heard it before. I'm sick, can you take the kids to school?

This time, Kieu Oanh Thi Lam said she had the flu.

Reluctantly, one more time, the father of two of Lam's three children drove to the house last Wednesday.

"I was very upset," Dang Hai Le said.

His skepticism, police say, was well-placed. It was about that time that Lam was giving birth to a baby boy in her bathroom, ending a nine-month pregnancy she kept secret from everyone, including her children.

The next day, police said, Lam drove to Tyrone Square Mall and left a tote bag at a commercial trash bin. The dead baby was inside.

Her arrest on a manslaughter charged culminates a lengthy stretch of personal troubles and conflict that began soon after the young Vietnamese mother arrived here seven years ago, full of courage and hope. Since then, according to interviews and documents, Lam has struggled with her finances, relationships and children.

"I think," Le said, "she needs some help."

The plane landed at Tampa International Airport in late 1998.

An attractive young woman stepped off with a man and a young boy. Lam had flown in from Vietnam, but had spent seven years in a refugee camp in Malaysia, one of tens of thousands of "boat people" who fled their homeland to escape communist rule.

Now she sat in a Pontiac Bonneville, on her way to be reunited with her father in Tampa. Driving the car was Sabrina Tu, a case worker for World Relief, a nonprofit that helps resettle immigrants in the area.

"I really admired her for having the courage to start life all over in this country," Tu said this week. "She had the same dream as everybody who comes here: to learn English and get a job."

Not long after, Lam was introduced to Dang Le. He had been looking to settle down, and family urged him to find a "traditional" girl.

"I felt sorry for her because she went through a hard life," said Le, now 38.

The couple never married; they had their first child, a boy, in September 1999. A girl was born the following summer.

"I thought we were going to build a family," Le said. They moved into a house in Pinellas Park.

The relationship quickly soured, evolving into a contentious court battle that ended only this year.

The trouble surfaced on Dec. 16, 2003, when Lam showed up at the Pinellas Park Police Department. She said Le broke a window in their home and climbed in after finding the locks were changed.

Police told her that Le had the same rights to the house and children, and the couple would have to resolve the matter in court.

She asked a judge for a domestic violence injunction, recounting the scene at the house and accusing Le of past physical abuse.

"He acts violent," she wrote. "I am afraid of him and afraid he will hurt me and take my children."

She asked for exclusive use of the home because of her limited funds and poor English. At the time, Lam worked as a nail technician at Oriental's Secret nail salon in Clearwater.

On Jan. 8, 2004, Circuit Judge Nancy Ley heard the dispute. It uncovered far more troubles.

In one exchange, Le denied violent acts. He said Lam asked him to go to Sarasota and talk with people who were threatening her safety over debts.

"What does she owe the money to them for?" the judge asked.

"Well," Le replied, "she is in this club - the best way I can explain it is it's a club, a savings club, and she swindled these ladies out of a lot of money. We're talking over $100,000 to everybody she owes."

He pointed to some women in the courtroom. One by one they stood up and said what they were owed: $17,500, $13,000, $4,800, $17,000, $20,000.

Savings clubs are not uncommon in immigrant communities. Groups pool money on a regular basis, collecting a set amount from each person. Then, individual members get the entire pool as needed, but must repay it.

Le, in an interview, said he got threatening phone calls and worried the children could be hurt.

But in court that morning, Lam said she borrowed the money.

Ley sounded exasperated.

"Obviously," she said, "this family has created a huge mess for itself."

Finding insufficient evidence of abuse, she dismissed the injunction against Le.

But more court drama followed.

A few days later, Lam filed a petition for custody of the children. She accused Le of orchestrating an "elaborate wedding" that gave the impression they were to share marital assets, even though no marriage license was sought. She again raised the allegations of physical abuse.

Le countered by suggesting that Lam was an inadequate mother, that she failed to meet the children's medical needs and sometimes left them with strangers.

After months of legal wrangling, the case ended in March 2005. Circuit Judge Jack St. Arnold ordered the parents to split time with the children. Lam was ordered to pay Le $75 per month for the children, and Le was required to pay for their health insurance.

Their obligation to the children, it seemed, was all that held them together.

Lam had moved into a new house in St. Petersburg, owned by a man who showed up in court as her interpreter. She got rid of her Lincoln Towncar for a Mercedes ML320, a sport utility vehicle that sells for $35,000.

Le wondered where she got the money but did not ask. He tried that before with the savings club but got nowhere. They rarely saw each other, rarely spoke.

In August, Lam took a trip to Vietnam to visit family. There, police say, she confirmed her pregnancy. A month later she returned, seemingly changed.

"She spoke with me normally," Le said. "It was kind of nice. I didn't have to be upset when I saw her."

He never saw her last week when he picked up the kids.

Police say Lam had the baby in the toilet, put him in a bag and left him in a trash bin outside the mall. Inside the bag was a Delta airline ticket with her name on it.

On the day she was arrested, Lam again called her former boyfriend. Come get the kids, she said.

He asked what was wrong. The oldest boy, 14, told him the police were there.

That evening he saw Lam's picture on the news.

"I was shocked," he said. "I didn't know she was pregnant. It's not like she was a young girl who suddenly had a child."

Lam left the county jail late Wednesday after posting $50,000 bail. Her whereabouts were unknown Thursday. People at her father's house in Tampa refused to talk.

The two younger children are back with Le. He hasn't told them what happened.

"I don't want them to think they are going to be bad just because their mother did something bad," he said. "Maybe I'll tell them later when they grow up."

Times staff writer Rebecca Catalanello contributed to this report.

[Last modified November 4, 2005, 01:42:07]