The Murder of Phuongsri Kroksamrang and Somjai Insamram

Phuongsri Kroksamrang and Somjai Insamnan were sex workers who were murdered by teenagers Phu Ngoc Tring and Ben McLean in March of 2004. They were bound, strangled, and tossed in the river by the boys, who hoped that crocodiles would get rid of the victim’s remains.

Their bodies resurfaced, however, and Trinh and McLean were arrested for the murders. The boys wove a fantastical tall tale to explain the crime, involving the Hell’s Angels, drug deals, police informants, and a completely made-up gang known as the Vietnamese People Community.

EPISODE NOTES:

Ben McLean told the police that he and Trinh murdered Phuongsri and Somjai because the Hell’s Angels forced him to, to clear a $50,000 drug debt. Trinh told prosecutors that he was present for the murders, but they were committed by a gang called the Vietnamese People Community who had been hounding him since he was a young teenager.

Neither teen gave up the real reason for the crime, and the true motive remains unknown to this day. No one really knows whether Trinh really did snap and kill the women because he was irritated by them, as he claimed in an early confession, or if he hired the women that day with the sole intent to kill them. McLean and Trinh’s lies and obfuscations frustrated police officers, lawyers, and the jury, who sought to determine what, if any, truth could be gleaned from the mess of stories they told.

Ben McLean and Phu Ngoc Trinh were not hardened gangsters, but immature, stupid young boys, who wanted to feel what it felt like to kill someone.

The majority of our info today was taken from the appeal, which can be found herehttps://jade.io/article/2100

A longform article from the NT News can be found herehttps://www.ntnews.com.au/news/crime-court/teen-killers-ben-mclean-and-phu-ngoc-trinh-dumped-dying-prostitutes-in-crocinfested-waters-of-adelaide-river/news-story/a4b0558e9b87c03fc5a474aa9f5561f5

Additional news articles can be found herehttps://www.smh.com.au/national/teens-get-25-years-for-killing-sex-workers-20050517-gdlc7s.html, herehttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/mar/12/australia.davidfickling and herehttps://www.smh.com.au/national/teens-get-25-years-for-killing-sex-workers-20050517-gdlc7s.htm

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