Cypress man bludgeoned wife to death with nail gun, sentenced to 40 years

CYPRESS, Texas - More than a year after the brutal murder of his wife, a Cypress man has been sentenced for his involvement in her death.

Lam Ngoc Tran, 65, pleaded guilty to murdering his wife, 49-year-old My Thai Dang, by bludgeoning her to death with a nail gun at their home on Peralta Springs Lane in Cypress on Jan. 10, 2022.

In exchange for the plea, he let a judge decide his punishment after a pre-sentence investigation. Tran was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Thursday.

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"This is a horrible murder, and it reinforces that the most dangerous time for a battered spouse is when they are trying to leave the relationship," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced said. "This woman was trying to get away from an abusive husband, and the only reason she is dead is because he could not stand to lose control of her."

According to the DA's Office, Harris County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to the home after receiving a 911 call. When they arrived, they found Dang lying in a pool of her own blood, apparently beaten to death with a heavy pneumatic nail gun.

Lam Ngoc Tran (Photo courtesy of Harris County District Attorney’s Office)

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Deputies report they also found Tran who seemed to have shot himself with the nail gun several times in an attempt to kill himself after he murdered his wife. Officials say he sent "goodbye" texts to loved ones before his suicide attempt.

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Tran pleaded guilty to murder earlier this year in exchange for letting a judge decide punishment after a pre-sentence investigation.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Magill said Dang had emigrated from Vietnam to Minnesota and then moved to Houston to marry Tran. They both worked at a plant that manufactures HVAC equipment.

"They had been married six or seven years and things had escalated into a cycle of domestic violence," Magill said. "They were scheduled for a hearing for a protective order the very next day, and his response was that if he couldn’t be with her, no one would."