{"id":457202,"date":"2026-02-06T08:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T08:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/457202\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T08:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T08:06:15","slug":"prince-rupert-familys-deaths-believed-to-be-murder-suicide-inquest-hears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/457202\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince Rupert family\u2019s deaths believed to be murder-suicide, inquest hears"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Warning: Details in this story may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/70c8fc80.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The coroner\u2019s inquest into the deaths of a Prince Rupert family of four heard testimony on Thursday that supports murder-suicide as a cause of death.<\/p>\n<p>The inquest is <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11649411\/coroners-inquest-prince-rupert-duong-nguyen-deaths\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">looking into the June 2023 deaths<\/a> of Janet Nguyen and Christopher Duong and their two sons, aged two and four.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, an RCMP officer testified that the crime scene supported the theory that Duong killed his children and Nguyen before taking his own life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe children were drugged prior to being murdered, based on the cold medication located on scene, being consistent with their toxicology results,\u201d Cpl. Matthew Blumberg testified.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJanet Nguyen was strangled with an electrical cord to the point it was extremely tight; she could not have done that to herself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>A video from the couple set out their \u201clast will and testament\u201d and was shared between the couple\u2019s phones a few days before the family was found dead, Blumberg said.<\/p>\n<p>Blumberg said there was no sign of a struggle between Duong and Nguyen.<\/p>\n<p>He described how the bodies of Duong, Nguyen and their two children were found in the same bed.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767930311_275_national.jpg\" alt=\"Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet daily National news<\/p>\n<p>Get the day&#8217;s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.<\/p>\n<p>Blumberg said the boys had teddy bears placed at their feet, and were believed to have been drugged by their father.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was observed that neither of the children had obvious signs of injury, but their lips were blue and their skin was pale,\u201d he told the hearing.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Inquest begins into deaths of Prince Rupert family'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WEB_duong_PIC.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"   data-\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:04<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tInquest begins into deaths of Prince Rupert family\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Previously, the inquest heard that in the early morning hours of June 10, 2023, Prince Rupert RCMP found a Mercedes SUV abandoned, packed with suitcases and a large amount of cash.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Its owners, Nguyen and Duong \u2014 both in their 30s \u2014 later returned to the scene. They told police they were being followed and a hit, or assassination, had been ordered against them.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11653259\/nine-toronto-police-officers-arrested-organized-crime\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770365171_9_d68a9576095a7eca05cb6bf9b66784ffd4d8891f3b7ee80b7ed39617437c8061.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tSeveral Toronto police officers arrested in organized crime investigation\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11652994\/mcmorris-crash-olympics\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770365172_325_b892bedcca413e336742af00a4ce4f0b48b0e637ea9eccaf9ddbc35fd0f2cd0e_d5fd6e.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tMark McMorris crash overshadows Canada\u2019s opening curling win at Olympics\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Police told the inquest Duong was known to local officers and was alleged to have been involved in the Prince Rupert drug trade.<\/p>\n<p>He was taken into custody under the Mental Health Act, while Nguyen and the couple\u2019s children were returned to the family home.<\/p>\n<p>The family was found dead on June 13, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Day two of coroner\u2019s inquest into deaths of Prince Rupert family of four'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/web_6P_DUONG_NGUYEN_INQUEST_OM01PF2H.png\" loading=\"lazy\"   data-\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:48<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDay two of coroner\u2019s inquest into deaths of Prince Rupert family of four\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The inquest heard that the Ministry of Children and Family Development was contacted by police after Duong was apprehended and a social worker was expected to make contact with the family during a five-day window.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Social worker Scott Bertram testified on Wednesday that the response time frame could be overridden, and that had he known Duong was to be released from the hospital a few hours later, he would have upgraded it to 24 hours.<\/p>\n<p>A social worker attempted to make contact with Nguyen on June 13 but was unsuccessful and the local office was notified of the deaths the following day.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 With files from The Canadian Press<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore on Crime<br \/>\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warning: Details in this story may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised. The coroner\u2019s inquest into&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[187359,49,48,2169,44,187358],"class_list":["post-457202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-bc-coroners-inquest","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-news","tag-prince-rupert-deaths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}