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My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
00:22:53
On September 27th 2008, 51-year-old My-Dung Tran boarded a bus from her home in Pensacola, Florida to Biloxi, Mississippi for a trip to the casinos. She planned to stay for a couple of weeks to gamble with friends in the area. But on October 4th, 2008, My-Dung got into a cab outside of a casino and was never seen or heard from again. In the 16 years since then, her case has remained a mystery to Biloxi police.
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- [00:00]
Ashley Flowers
Hi everyone, it's Ashley Flowers here and I want to tell you about a wild case that I can't stop thinking about. In 2002, Nathaniel Jones was found murdered outside his home in Winston Salem, North Carolina. In this newest season of Counterclock, investigative journalist Delia D'Ambra digs deep into the details of this case and the stories of the five teenagers who were quickly arrested. At the time, they had all confessed. But 22 years later, the men convicted say that they're innocent, and so does the star witness whose story secured their convictions. This story is still unfolding today and you will not believe the places that Delia's investigation into this case goes. So make sure you listen to Counterclock now, wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:45]
Unknown
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- [01:32]
Ashley Flowers
Farm helps you win by helping you create an affordable price just for you. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. Our card this week is Mai dung tran, the 10 of spades from Mississippi. Having recently sold the nail salon that she owned for years in Pensacola, Florida, 51 year old Mai Dung was enjoying her well earned retirement. The mother of three spent her newly cleared up schedule with her long term partner at home or on bus rides to Mississippi and Louisiana where she would hit the casinos for a couple of weeks at a time. She was even planning an upcoming trip back to her home country of Vietnam to visit her family. But on October 4, 2008, a fateful cab ride would postpone that trip indefinitely and it would change the course of Mai Dung's Life and so many others. I'm Ashley Flowers and this is the deck. In September of 2008, Mai Dung boarded a bus from Pensacola, Florida to Biloxi, Mississippi for a gambling trip, something that she'd recently gotten into the habit of. Here's Biloxi Assistant Chief of Police Chris Dback, the investigator on Mai Dung's case today.
- [03:33]
Chris D'Back
From what I know, she would come over to Biloxi on the bus, sometimes with a friend, sometimes not. She'd usually stay a couple, couple days to a week. And from what her family tells me, sometimes it'd be up to three weeks. So wasn't anything unusual for her to be over here. But she always would call or keep in contact with a friend or something.
- [03:55]
Ashley Flowers
Except this time, Maidung was strangely quiet. Two weeks pass, then three, then four. But her family hadn't seen or heard from her. When they got a call from one of their mom's friends who had also been ghosted, they really began to worry because the woman said that Mai Dung was supposed to visit her after her Mississippi trip, but she just never showed. And she hadn't returned any of the woman's repeated phone calls either. The family decided they needed to take action. So on November 5, Mai Dung's son Vu Tran, decided that he needed to file a missing persons report with authorities in Escambia County, Florida, where they had lived. When he told him that his mom's last known location, though, was in Mississippi, well, you know how this works. Not their jurisdiction. So they called over to Biloxi where they got ahold of Dback. They explained the scenario to him and put him in touch with Maidung's family.
- [04:48]
Chris D'Back
One of the first things I did was call them to find out more about their mother and what she might have been doing here in Biloxi. Asked them the normal stuff, does she have bank accounts, you know, what's her cell phone number, who might she contact, who her friends were if she came over with a friend? I did ask them. We're talking about the end of September and this is beginning of November. Why they waited so long. They kind of reiterated that whole three week thing and it kind of made sense a little bit, you know, wasn't out of the ordinary. But once they started calling around, they couldn't get in touch with her. She usually would return calls, and if she wasn't returning calls, that's when they got concerned.
- [05:28]
Ashley Flowers
Now, when Maidung boarded the bus back in September, De BAC told us that she'd been alone, but that's not to say that she was planning to be alone the entire trip. Vu said that his mom was very friendly and, quote, would talk to anybody. And apparently she had been making these trips to Biloxi for at least the last year at that point. So it was likely that she knew people there. They just didn't know who those people might be. She'd never talked about anyone in particular. And tracking Maidung's movements, even in 2008, was going to be a challenge because there wasn't really a paper trail for De Bak to follow. Maidung only used cash, cash to gamble, cash to pay for her bus ticket, cash to pay for her hotel rooms. Vu said that his mom often kept large amounts of cash on her. She preferred to carry her money this way and actually didn't even have a credit card. She didn't even have a bank account.
- [06:21]
Chris D'Back
When you're tracking missing persons, that's one of the first things you look at, along with their cell phone. And so that was out the window.
- [06:30]
Ashley Flowers
So one of the first things that De Bak did was call Mai Dung's cell just like her kids had tried. But the same thing happened, no answer. He also called her long term partner, Quang Nguyen, whose number he had gotten from her kids. Maidung and Kwang lived together in Florida.
- [06:48]
Chris D'Back
Everybody I talked to asked about the boyfriend, was there problems there or anything like that. I said no, they got along real well. There wasn't anything that raises an eyebrow for anybody even checked into that background because, you know, certainly a domestic is one way to go, but, you know, was able to confirm he was at work and there was no past reports or any indication that there was an issue there.
- [07:12]
Ashley Flowers
When questioned, Kwang said that he was working offshore, as he often did as a fisherman. During Maidung's trip to the Biloxi casinos. It was only once he got back home in October that he discovered Mai Dung was nowhere to be found.
- [07:25]
Chris D'Back
Tried to call her, couldn't get ahold of her, went to the normal locations looking for her, couldn't find her, talk to the family and everything else. He also found out that the rent hadn't been paid. None of the other bills had been paid. About the end of the month, each month he would send her about $4,000 to pay rent, you know, buy groceries, things of that nature, live. And there was no indication that the $4,000 was left behind. So it must have gone with Ms. Tran when she came over.
- [07:54]
Ashley Flowers
Kwang told De Bak that Mai Dung had been talking about taking a trip home to Vietnam to visit her family. So DBACK immediately began checking airlines and reaching out to federal agencies that track international travel.
- [08:08]
Chris D'Back
And nothing. They used her maiden name, her current name, everything. It did not appear she left this country.
- [08:17]
Ashley Flowers
So with neither Maidung's partner nor her children knowing what happened in Biloxi, De Back was left to try to piece together Maidung's last movements on his own. Make this new year a milestone in your child's education with ixl. IXL uses advanced algorithms to personalize your child's learning experience, ensuring they receive the right support at the right time. IXL encourages your child to set specific goals, whether it's improving grades in a challenging subject or mastering foundational skills, all while helping them build confidence along the way. With subjects spanning from accounting and ABCs to advanced high school topics like calculus and SAT prep. One subscription covers all your children's educational needs and saves you time by providing organized resources all in one place. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now and the DEC listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at ixl.com dec Visit ixl.com dec to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. As you set resolutions for 2025, consider how learning a new language can enrich your life. Rosetta Stone has been a leader in language education for over three decades, with millions of satisfied users worldwide. With courses in 25 languages including Spanish, French, German, and more, you can choose a language to learn that unlocks new places, connections and experiences. And Rosetta Stone's mobile app makes it easy to learn on the go, which is like the only way I can do my learning in the car, in the bath. It is not going to happen any other way for me. So it is really great that Rosetta Stone fits into my life and meets me where I am. Start the new year off with a resolution you can reach today. The DECK listeners can take advantage of Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership. For 50% off, visit rosetta stone.com deck that's 50% off unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life at rosettastone.com dec today.
- [10:45]
Chris D'Back
I started contacting the different casinos to find out if she had a player's card, if she had ever stayed there, any information I could about her. So when you go to a casino, you can get a player's card. It's kind of like a member card for that casino. It's specific to each casino each and what you do is like if you're playing Slots or something like that, you can put your card in, it tracks your points, it just tracks your history. But the only two casinos that really had current activity around that time, the end of September 2008 to October 2008, was the Imperial palace in Beau Rivage.
- [11:22]
Ashley Flowers
Employees at the Imperial palace confirmed that Mai Dung had checked into the hotel on September 27th and paid with cash for a three day stay that she had booked in advance. Deeback was able to find activity on her player's card that first day, which would've been the 27th, and then again on September 29th and 30th.
- [11:41]
Chris D'Back
In all indications, she did stay from the 27th through the 30th. When we checked with the Imperial palace where we know she stayed at, nothing had been left in the room.
- [11:51]
Ashley Flowers
When de back called the other casino, the Beau Rivage, he found out that Maidung had also pre booked a room there from October 1st to the 3rd. But she never showed up to check in. And after the 30th, there was no more activity on her players cards at any casino in the area. Now, of course, it's possible that Maijung was still staying at the casino and playing games without swiping her card. But without any more activity to track, Deepak was stuck. None of the other hotels or casinos in the area had any record of Mai Dung staying or or playing around that time. The same was true for the local law enforcement agencies, hospitals, even the coroner's offices. None had any information about Mai Dung or any unidentified Asian woman who matched.
- [12:39]
Chris D'Back
Her description at the time. It was a little bit difficult there really didn't have a place to go search. Certainly the casinos did our best there with the assistance of surveillance and security. But other than that, we really had no place to go search.
- [12:55]
Ashley Flowers
You might be thinking, because I was too, that surveillance at casinos is pretty intense. Like hard for someone to go missing kind of intense. Casinos usually have not only high definition cameras covering every inch of the floor, but usually on the ground security teams constantly monitoring everyone and everything around them. The problem was that the surveillance cameras from the Biloxi casinos were where she would have been playing, only stored footage for around a week. And because Maidung wasn't reported missing until over a month after she was last in contact with anyone, most evidence of her movements in Biloxi had been deleted by the time Deeback got on the case. Now there was one piece of technology though that did still have data even over a month out, and that was Meidum's.
- [13:47]
Chris D'Back
It appears the Last time her phone was used was at 3 o'clock in the morning on October 4th. She called the phone. It went unanswered, so nobody was able to talk to her at that point. If she's the one making the call after that point, I can tell you there were several incoming calls but no answers. So I could tell that she didn't answer and I can tell that nobody ever made another call from her phone by looking at the 24 hours prior to that call to see who she called and you know, if they knew anything and you know, what was the reasoning for that call.
- [14:20]
Ashley Flowers
It turned out Maidung was in contact with a handful of people prior to her disappearance. De Bak tried to reach out to all of them. Most, it seemed, were friends that she would gamble with and many of them didn't answer. Now, to be exact, Maidung made 15 phone calls between 9.30pm and 3am on October 3rd and 4th, and none of those were picked up. Fourteen of these calls, including Mai Dung's last call, were to the same man. When De Bak called that number, the man said that he had met Mai Dung gambling on a previous trip and the two had sort of become friends.
- [14:58]
Chris D'Back
He said that usually when she would call it was hey, come, I'm in town, come gamble with me and all that. But he was working, didn't really have the time, so he just didn't answer the calls. That was one of the last calls that was made.
- [15:10]
Ashley Flowers
The last call she made that was answered was placed just before 9.30pm it was to a friend who we'll call Bob. And Bob told Doubt that during that conversation he made plans to meet up with Mai Dung at the Imperial palace that night, October 3rd. When Bob got there, he noticed Mai Dung had brought along a woman that he didn't recognize.
- [15:31]
Chris D'Back
Well, they hung out at the RP Casino for several hours and then they decided to go over to the Beau Rivage. They were at the Beau rivage, all the three of them, for another several hours. And around 4:00 on the 4th, May says, well, I'm going to go down to the Grand Casino and the gentleman gives her $5 for the cab. As far as the Grand Casino, we have no indication that she ever arrived through surveillance or players card. That's the last time she's seen. Sometimes you'll find where taxi companies keep the records at pickups drop offs. I couldn't find any pickup or drop off in the area for that time frame.
- [16:09]
Ashley Flowers
Doucheback doesn't know if someone called this supposed cab, or if it was already nearby or if it was really even a legitimate cab at all. To this day, he hasn't been able to pinpoint the company or the driver of that car. And it's after this 4am pickup that Maidung essentially goes off the grid. People continue to call her phone, but she never picks up again. Now, because Maidung's phone continued to get calls, it did continue to ping cell towers. Now, ordinarily, this could give investigators a general idea of the area where someone is, but not in this case, because the towers it was hitting on were kind of a red herring.
- [16:53]
Chris D'Back
I know she was at the border of IJ on the morning, but if you look at her phone records, she. It's hitting further north up in the county. It's a switch tower. So if the tower gets overloaded or something like that, it switches to another location. So the GPS location didn't help on the cell phone records.
- [17:10]
Ashley Flowers
De BAC was never able to locate Mai Dung's physical phone, but he was interested in learning more about Bob and that other woman that she was last seen with.
- [17:20]
Chris D'Back
When Bob met up with Ms. Tran at the IP Casino on the night of the 3rd, this unknown female was with her. Only thing he could tell me is that she was foreign. He didn't know where she was from, who she was, anything like that.
- [17:34]
Ashley Flowers
So Divac tried to see if the casino employees knew anything about this mystery woman, and that's when things sort of took a turn.
- [17:44]
Chris D'Back
None of them could tell me who this person was, but they thought she was involved in some kind of prostitution or something. I don't know how they got the idea she might even be involved in prostitution. Nobody ever came forward with any information for that. I would say I'm very skeptical of this unknown female. I know what people are saying and what they believe. I don't know how they. I want to say, assumed or what their theory is, where it came from, that she might have been involved in prostitution. I still haven't figured that one out, but if that is anywhere close to accurate, maybe she got hooked up with the wrong people, and maybe that's who she was staying with and something went wrong.
- [18:24]
Ashley Flowers
De Back tried to identify this woman, but other than searching for a player's card, which he couldn't find, there wasn't much he could do without surveillance or a paper trail. And we don't know how the mystery woman or Bob's nights ended after Mai Dung allegedly left. According to Doucheback, there was nothing to suggest that Bob was involved in Mai Dung's disappearance. And though all of the new information he provided was helpful, there were still tons, tons of gaps in the timeline. And honestly, even more questions.
- [18:57]
Chris D'Back
You know, she checks out IP on the 30th. Where did she stay between the 30th and the morning of the 4th? I can't even put her gambling at any of the casinos other than two days during that period, one being the last day and one being the one of the first days she's there. So I haven't been able to determine or figure out what she did in the middle there. It's just the story is so weird between those dates that she just, she wasn't at a casino or if she was, she wasn't using her player's card, she wasn't on any kind of video that we know of, and she wasn't checked into a hotel. So I don't know where she was staying at, who she was with. And majority of the time we get a report of a missing person, we find them a couple hours later, and you know, sometimes they're sitting at another casino, sometimes they just, you know, went to sleep or whatever it is. But. And thankfully, majority of Mr. Person reports, that's how they end up. They just lost track of time or whatever. Cell phone died, whatever it is.
- [19:55]
Ashley Flowers
By the end of November, Douchebag hadn't received so much as one tip from the public. It was starting to feel like there was nothing more he could do. But on December 5, just as he was on the verge of losing hope, De Bak got a call from a waitress at the Imperial Palace. She told him that just the day before, she had seen Maidung at the casino. And she wasn't alone. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. Looking ahead is important. It's important to teach kids important life skills like financial literacy. It's easy to do with greenlight. Greenlight is a debit card and money app made for families that lets kids learn how to save, invest and spend wisely. Kids and teens build money, confidence and skills in a fun, accessible way, like with games. Plus set up chores and reward kids with allowance for a job well done. Greenlight is the easy, convenient way to raise financially smart kids. Millions of parents and kids are learning about money on Greenlight already. It's how I plan to teach Josie about personal finances one day. And I know my best friend Brit's son uses it already. Start your risk free Greenlight trial today@greenlight.com the deck. That's greenlight.com thedeck to get started. The waitress who said she saw Mai Dung on December 4th told Doucheback that she recognized Mai Dung because she had served her at the casino many times before.
- [21:38]
Chris D'Back
She said, I think I saw her on December 4 with an unknown white male and never seen the guy before. Nothing. So I asked her, I said, well, where did you see her in the casino, exactly? And what was she doing? Did she appear to be scared, anything like that? She said, no, she appeared to be normal. I didn't go up and talk to her or anything like that, but I'm pretty sure it was her. So I started checking into that, checked her players records, got with surveillance to figure out exactly what camera she might be on, and they were never able to find anything. And so whether it was her or not, I couldn't tell you, but this employee felt like it was Ms. Tran.
- [22:20]
Ashley Flowers
DBAC said that he believed the waitress was reliable, so he had the Imperial palace look through their surveillance video based on her tip. But there didn't appear to be any footage of Mai Dung anywhere. So unable to confirm the waitress story, De Back had to assume she was mistaken. She couldn't say anything else about the man she'd allegedly saw Mai Dung with other than he was white. Which just left De BAC with another possible person of interest that he had no way to identify. That same month, De BAC also got a call from Mai Dung's son, Vu. He's the one who initially reported her missing. He told Doucheback that he received a call from somebody saying they saw Mai Dung at a casino in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which is over four hours from Biloxi.
- [23:09]
Chris D'Back
So I got with the Louisiana Gaming Commission, and between them, Mississippi Gaming Commission and casinos, we were able to check every casino nationally and put out a bolo, and there was nothing. New Orleans, Lake Charles, Las Vegas. Nothing on this Tran other than here in Biloxi.
- [23:30]
Ashley Flowers
Unfortunately, that was the last tip Doucheback received in this case. In fact, those two tips were the only tips he's ever gotten. In January of 2010, Deeback entered Vu's DNA into CODIS. And over the years, he's gotten a handful of hits for possible matches to unidentified remains found out of state. But each one was eventually ruled out.
- [23:53]
Chris D'Back
At this point, I can't say that there's a person of interest, but at the same time, you know, whether you want to call them witnesses or friends, associates, it just is an active missing person case. So it's kind of hard to rule anybody out at this point. But, no, there's no front running you know, person of interest, nothing like that. I'd love to talk to that driver. The unknown white female, and let's say December sighting was accurate. The unknown white male. Those would be the three people that I'd want to talk to right now, or anybody that knows where she may have been staying at between 30 September and 3 October.
- [24:36]
Ashley Flowers
Divac said that because it's been so long and Mai Dung hasn't resurfaced anywhere, gotten any tickets in another state or. Or popped up on any NCIC list, he can only assume that there was foul play involved in her disappearance. But other than that, he says he doesn't have enough information to come up with a theory about what happened to her. Here's our reporter Nicole, speaking with Detective D. Back. What would you say has been the most challenging part this case?
- [25:06]
Chris D'Back
The unknown, the inability to get information on those. The. Those few days in the middle of where exactly she was and what exactly she was doing, and not having the ability to go back and get the surveillance. A lot of the surveillance, most of it, as a matter of fact, because it's just gone. You know, we lost it in time. The records at the time, as far as the cell phone records, you know, certainly details are better nowadays than they were even in 2008. And not being able to pinpoint, you know, that cell phone ping where she was making the calls because it hit a switch tower. And then, unfortunately, majority of the calls she made in that last day went unanswered. So that, to me, that's the frustration. You just. There's nowhere to go to get the questions answered. And unless somebody comes forward that knows, you know, has those answers, there's no technology we could use to get it, no records we can go dig up. We haven't received any new leads, any new information in over a decade now. And the few attempts or times that I've been able to pull it out and look at it and try to rerun the information, trying to find a new connection, I've gotten nowhere. I think anything is important, especially we're talking about the time frame. Again, through the end of September. I stayed through the beginning of October. But if she was observed or seen after that, that information is important, too. So it doesn't matter how small it is or insignificant you believe it is. You know, any information can help. And it's a puzzle. You're trying to put the puzzle together, and you may have that piece, whether it's very valuable or it's not as significant. It's still part of the puzzle.
- [27:01]
Ashley Flowers
Today. Mai dung would be 67 years old. @ the time of her disappearance. She was 5ft tall and 140 pounds. She had black hair, brown eyes and pierced ears. You can find her photo in the show notes. If you know anything about the 2008 disappearance of Mai Dung Tran or her movements in Biloxi from September 27th to October 4th of 2008, please call Mississippi Coast Crime at 1-877-787-5898 or you can submit a tip online at p3tips.com. The deck is an audio Chuck production with theme music by Ryan Lewis. To learn more about the Deck and our advocacy work, visit thedeckpodcast.com so what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?
- [27:54]
Unknown
Meet Flip. She's one half of a Flip Flop. That's me who got left behind at Celebration Key, Carnival's exclusive paradise in Grand Bahama.
- [28:02]
Ashley Flowers
Uh, I chose to stay here. It really is paradise.
- [28:05]
Unknown
So now Flip spends her time lounging on the beach, swimming in the lagoon and eating.
- [28:10]
Ashley Flowers
The only thing more impressive than my appetite are all the dining options.
- [28:13]
Chris D'Back
Yeah.
- [28:13]
Unknown
Have you tried food service to your cabana?
- [28:15]
Ashley Flowers
Ooh, yum. Flip.
- [28:17]
Unknown
Where'd she go? Book your cruise vacation to Carnival's Celebration Cayenne, a paradise you'll want to lose yourself in. Ships registry the Bahamas, in Panama.
- [28:26]
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