Oberlin College was shaken Friday after an award-winning photography professor who worked at the Ohio liberal arts college for nearly 30 years was found shot to death Wednesday, officials said.
Pipo Nguyen-Duy, 64, and his wife, Tran Thi Phong, 56, were found shot to death in their home.
The teacher’s son, Daniel Jones, 31, was arrested Wednesday in connection with the fatal shooting.
Authorities said they were investigating a motive for the killing. Jones was charged with six counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and one count of tampering with evidence, authorities said. He was being held on $3 million bail after his first court appearance Thursday. He did not plead.
Nguyen-Duy was the art studio director at Oberlin College in northern Ohio near Lake Erie, where police had responded that morning to a car fire in a parking lot.
Investigators found a Toyota sedan with Oregon license plates registered to Jones.
The police searched the home of his father and stepmother to check their health after the arrest. After a forced entry, Nguyen-Duy and Thi Phong were found shot to death, authorities said.
Oberlin police have been in contact with Jones’ mother in Oregon, ABC News reported. Her name has not been released, but Oberlin police report she told authorities Jones suffered from a mental illness and needed medication.
Investigators also discovered Jones’ wallet and passport as well as ammunition in the car before finding Jones about a mile away more than an hour later, police said. Police responded to a call from a resident reporting a “wet, disheveled man” outside her front door and authorities took him into custody without incident.
Officials said Jones had cuts to his face and injuries to his hand and arm at the time of his arrest. His lawyer, Jenifer Berki Merrill, said he preferred to use his birth name, Asia Nguyen-Duy.
Pipo Nguyen-Duy emigrated from Vietnam to the United States in 1975 as a political refugee. He was considered highly respected at Oberlin College and had been honored for his photography and made a Guggenheim Fellow.
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