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Death threat becomes a reality

Her ex-boyfriend leads police to a woman's body in the back of her car.

By ALEXANDRA ZAYAS
Published February 23, 2006

	[Times photo: Brian Cassella]
	Loretta Simone says her slain daughter, Sonya Simone, in photo, was afraid for her life.

TAMPA - Sonya Simone's life was in danger, and her mother knew it.

Loretta Simone, 73, said she sat in anguish with a telephone to her ear every time she called Sonya and heard her daughter's boyfriend, To Van Phan, yelling threats in the background.

"I'll kill you," she heard Phan tell her daughter.

Her worst fears came true on Wednesday.

In an early morning phone call, Tampa police say, To Van Phan told them he'd killed Simone. He led officers to Simone's body in the back seat of her Kia, which was parked in the driveway of his co-worker's home near the Lowry Park Zoo.

Phan, who has a history of domestic violence, has been charged with second-degree murder. Authorities have not yet said how the 37-year-old mother of three died, how her car got to the home or what motivated Phan to call them.

At the small Town 'N Country home where he once stayed with Simone, her family sat in shock over her death. Most of her seven siblings did not know a lot about her relationship - she was a private person.

She even hid problems from her own daughter, Brianna Simone, 14, who lived with the couple. Brianna shared what she knew about her mother's relationship:

Simone met Phan, 37, three months ago through a group of mutual Vietnamese friends she knew from work.

Everyone called him "Chino." He moved in with Simone and her children - Brianna, Briant, 7 and Darius, 5. Phan was friendly with the kids. He persuaded Simone to allow Brianna to go to the movies on weekends, and played with Briant and Darius.

"My mom kind of tried to keep to herself about problems," Brianna said. "She doesn't want all of us having that on our shoulders."

Phan was convicted in 1993 of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault. It was a domestic violence case. He served more than five years in state prison.

"She told me she thought he was a good man, and that he wasn't going to do that kind of thing to her, and that she felt safe with him," Brianna said.

Susan Keiser, Simone's best friend who also lives in the home, thought otherwise. She said everything happened inside Simone's tiny cluttered bedroom. When Phan would arrive at the house, he'd enter Simone's bedroom and lock the door.

"He'd yell at her. He'd just yell at the top of his lungs," Keiser said.

Simone confided in her mother, Loretta Simone.

"They had a rocky relationship," her mother said. She recounted her daughter's struggle:

Simone began losing contact with her loved ones because Phan was so possessive. He was extremely jealous of her contact with the father of her children, and he monitored all of her phone calls.

"He didn't want her having nothing to do with nobody. Not even me, and I'm her mother," Simone said. "She'd come to see me several times a week, but after she started going with him, I had to beg her to come, because he wouldn't let her come."

She also told her mother he beat her.

Last week, Simone took a stand. She broke up with him and told him to leave the house. Phan moved in with a co-worker, Loretta Simone said, and Phan went from boyfriend to stalker, calling her repeatedly, threatening her life.

Monday afternoon, Sonya took shelter in her mother's house after work. Loretta Simone said Phan showed up at her daughter's home that night, looking for her.

She returned to her own home after that.

Wednesday evening, Sonya Simone told her roommate she was headed to the grocery store. Police found her body just before 1 a.m.

Her family thinks she drove to see Phan to keep him away from her house.

"She said, "Mom, I've got to keep him away from my kids.' It's been said so many times that if they can't get you, they'll get your kids," Loretta Simone said. " She said "My kids come first."'

As they sat together, retelling what occurred, 7-year-old Briant hadn't fully comprehended his mother's death yet. When his grandmother told him she had gone to heaven, tears welled up in his eyes. He brushed them away, walked to window, and watched for her red Kia to pull up, Simone said.

"She was my baby girl," Simone said in tears.

[Last modified February 23, 2006, 01:08:11]