A 38-year-old Illinois man has been has been arrested and charged with the murder of his 72-year-old mother.
The O’Fallon Police Department said it was called for a well-being check on Terrie “Tracy” Nguyen at about 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and found her dead inside her home in the St. Louis suburb.
Investigators identified her son, David Nguyen, as a person of interest, and Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers spotted him traveling westbound on Interstate 70 near Concordia, Missouri, about three hours later. Nguyen tried to flee from the troopers, who threw out multiple stop sticks.
Nguyen eventually ran off the highway and into a wooded area and was taken into custody.
He was taken to a hospital for treatment and then released into the custody of the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office.
On Wednesday, the State’s Attorney’s Office in St. Clair County, Illinois, charged Nguyen with murder and concealment of a homicidal death. He remains in jail in Missouri awaiting extradition to Illinois.
According to the Belleville News-Democrat, Nguyen hit his mother in the face and then put plastic wrap over her nose and mouth. Prosecutors said that he turned on the gas in the home “and left a lit candle inside the house with the intent to cause an explosion.”
Investigators have not revealed a motive and are as yet unsure about how the victim died.
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[Featured image: Missouri State Highway Patrol. Inset: David Nguyen/Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office]
