Suspect caught on video confessing to killing family, college professor, prosecutor says

LORAIN COUNTY, Ohio (WOIO/Gray News) - Moments after a celebrated college professor and his wife were shot to death inside their Ohio home, prosecutors say the suspect knocked on a stranger’s door and asked to be recorded on video confessing to the killings.

Asia Nguyen-Duy, 31, of Ashland, Oregon, appeared in court Thursday, being carried in by several police officers, placed in a chair and rolled to the defense table.

Nguyen-Duy previously went by Daniel Jones. Court records show they legally changed their name in 2025. During Thursday’s hearing, Nguyen-Duy said they are gender-neutral and prefer to be called Asia Nguyen-Duy.

They are facing six counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and one count of tampering with evidence in the deaths of 64-year-old Pipo Nguyen-Duy and 56-year-old Thi Tran Phong.

During the hearing, prosecutors revealed that Nguyen-Duy, covered in scratches and blood, approached a nearby resident. They asked them to record a video, and admitted to killing their family, claiming they were “escaping a cult” and taking full responsibility for the acts.

Police were first alerted Wednesday morning after finding a smoldering, modified vehicle registered to Nguyen-Duy in an Oberlin College parking lot containing loose ammunition and magazine packaging.

Officers found Nguyen-Duy nearby and conducted a welfare check at the victims’ home, discovering both dead from multiple gunshot wounds.

Pipo Nguyen-Duy was an internationally exhibited photographer and longtime studio art professor at Oberlin College.

A judge set bond at $3 million, and the case has been bound over to county common pleas court.