The Wildest Story You've Ever Heard

19:58Jason:We all have that dream trip we've been wishing we could go on. But too often, life, or usually price, gets in the way. That's why Priceline is here to help you turn your dream trip into reality. With up to 60 % off hotels and up to 50 % off flights, you can book everything you need for your next adventure. Don't just dream about that next trip. Book it with Priceline. Download the Priceline app or visit Priceline.com and book your next trip today. Go to your happy price. Priceline.

20:37The next morning, Trung wakes up in his and Monica's sky blue bedroom.

20:42Jason:The blinds were really bright. The sun was shining in. For a moment, it's calm, like last night never happened. But just for a moment. It took me about 30 seconds. I just knew that things would never be the same again. He doesn't know what else to do other than try to act like everything is normal. Maybe if he just keeps putting one foot in front of the other, last night will soon be nothing more than a bad dream. A night where nobody was seriously hurt. He climbs out of bed and walks past the nightstand and the bureau, cluttered with makeup and accessories. He gets ready for work in the living room so he won't disturb Monica.

21:26Jason:I put on my black T-Mobile shirt, put on some slacks, a pair of dress shoes. Trung looks at his Honda. He tried to clean the back seat after returning last night, but the stains linger. So he takes Monica's car and clocks into his sales job at T-Mobile. Back at the house, his brother An wakes up with a head-crushing hangover. Look over my shoulder and Carly, she was there. There, but truly and exceptionally furious. She was just so upset. Just that look like of disgust. And I'm like, wait, what's wrong? And then she said, do you know what happened last night? And I was like, no. Wait, wait, what happened?

22:14What happened, she announces, is that Ahn got into a fight at last night's birthday party. Ahn racks his brain.

22:22Jason:I don't remember fighting. I do remember just going to the party and, you know, having a good time. And then Carly tells him, Trung stabbed the guy you were fighting. I was like, oh. Whether it's the shock or the immensity of his hangover, An is not processing this news. All he can do is shove it away and try and have a normal Sunday with his girlfriend. First step, food. They're teenagers. They're hungry.

22:58Jason:We went for lunch at this Asian fusion place where we always like to go. I got a text from my friend. He just sent me a link of the Mercury News, and it talked about the party. That person died. That's when all the emotions, that's when reality hit. And I was like, we got to go.

23:29Trung is working when Monica calls him.

23:32Jason:She says, that the guy went to the hospital and he died at the hospital. It was like... like my sense of hearing. I hear like certain echoes, but just like my whole body, the energy changed. He tells his boss there's a family emergency and rushes out of the store and jumps into his car. That was when all the emotions hit me. disbelief that a man is dead regret for making such a catastrophic decision and panic my life would change forever now I would never be in school again started working at a really good place for my age and all of that is over when he gets home Ana's there, waiting right when we see each other we kind of fell to the ground and just kind of bawled out, cried.

24:36The brothers hold tightly to each other. They're terrified. It's only a matter of time before the police arrive and start asking questions to piece together which twin is guilty of what. Because Trung might be guilty of homicide, but An was the one fighting in the first place. They need to make a plan, and there are only two options. stay and face the authorities or flee.

25:03Jason:Okay, so do I go on the run? Do I book some kind of ticket to go to Vietnam? Try to hide out there? The twins haven't been back to their native Vietnam since they immigrated here as fourth graders. Also, could they really run away? If they go, that's it. There's no coming back. When you choose to run away, you throw away your own life. More importantly, running doesn't just mean leaving their own lives behind. It means abandoning their parents. They think about how hard their parents worked to get here in the first place and how hard they've worked since trying to provide for them while making minimum wage, the Taekwondo lessons, the Boy Scout gear.

25:50They think about how much their parents rely on them for help translating mail, navigating doctor's appointments, and keeping track of benefits. An shakes his head.

26:02Jason:We look at each other like there's no way that we're going to leave our family.

26:13If they're not going to run, they decide they still need some sort of plan.

26:18Jason:Knowing that, fuck, like, it's over. but also giving yourself the best chance possible. Truong means the best chance of avoiding prison. So he makes a list. First thing we had to do was to get our story straight. They decide the best course of action with the police is to say nothing. If questioned about their role in the fight, say they don't know anything and request a lawyer. And no matter what, don't say anything that might incriminate the other.

26:53Next on Trung's list, collect any scrap of evidence that connects them to the stabbing. He and An gather their clothes from the party along with Trung's college textbooks, which were in the backseat of his car and are now covered in blood. Then he and An take everything into the backyard and light up the grill. The clothes ignite quickly, but the textbooks are thick and they are not catching.

27:19Jason:I burned just the cover and some pages, but most of it was still intact. And so I panicked. Trung searches for a spot to hide the books, and finally throws them up on the roof, hoping the police won't think to look. They hunker down for the night, playing through different scenarios. Will the police show up at their work? At the house? How should they act? And then, when there's nothing left to talk about, they go into their separate rooms, Trung with Monica and An with Carly. For a long time, Trung can't sleep. He hugs Monica as she falls asleep, and then he stares at the ceiling. Thinking about my girlfriend, thinking about my parents.

28:10Trung thinks about his current life, which has its fair share of stress and tumult, but is also one he does not want to lose. He and An have found a home at Monica's. Sure, it's got a patchy front yard nobody has time to care for and a patio scattered with cigarette butts, but out back is this orange tree with fruit so blindingly bright it seems to glow. And within is a congregation of family and friends, significant others constantly passing through. It's a loving if chaotic place, one that Trung cannot imagine leaving. Trung eventually drifts off, and the ranch house, with its orange tree, an unkempt yard, and gaggle of chosen family, is quiet.

28:59Until it isn't.

29:06From the moment the twins left the birthday party, the police have been busy assembling their own narrative of the killing, a narrative supplemented by interviews with dozens of eyewitnesses.

29:18Jason:So why don't you just go and tell me what you know about what happened on late Saturday night, early Sunday morning, okay? Slowly, a picture has begun to emerge of a pretty ordinary house party, a birthday party, a party where the birthday girl's parents were there the whole time, and a party that had unexpectedly exploded into violence. I just hear someone inside the house yell, like, someone got stabbed, and I freaked out. It's completely dark. Like, I don't remember seeing anything, but I guess someone stabbed him, but I wasn't looking. I didn't see who stabbed him. Well, I didn't see, like, him, like, Drake stabbed, but I saw him swaying with the knife.

30:00Detectives are dealing with a group of guests in their teens and early 20s. Most were intoxicated. Nobody had a clear idea about what happened. Still, witnesses do keep referring to two people in particular.

30:14Jason:I didn't see who attacked who or anything like that. It was, yeah, one guy. He seemed like a twin of one of the brothers. Everyone's been saying that they saw the twins with a knife. I heard people talking about, they mentioned, oh, it was one of the twins. And they said some guy named Trong. I believe it's Trong. So did anybody say who stabbed him? No, but everyone's just saying that it's one of the twins because he was the one. One of the twins? Yeah. The twins is a man. His name's like On. You just want to tell them apart just by looking at him? No, they're identical. They even have the same hair.

30:48I hear girls saying, On, get off of him. Detectives emerge from the interviews certain of one thing. One of these brothers was responsible for the stabbing. Now, all they have to do is figure out which one.

31:17Back at Monica's house, it's just past midnight. Truong is jolted awake.

31:23Jason:Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Right after that, I just heard it loud. Bam! The family dogs are barking, and they're shouting. Trung jumps out of bed, then turns to Monica. I said they were here. And I just hugged her and kissed her. I opened the door, and I turned around, put my hands in the back of my head. And the whole time, I just was looking at Monica.

31:55Trang is handcuffed and walked outside as police make their way to Ahn's room.

32:00Jason:I just woke up with like, I don't know, four or five guns pointing at me. I was like, oh, shit. He's handcuffed, too. I dragged my ass out to the front door.

32:16The police take the brothers downtown. A detective walks on into a sterile interrogation room, removes his handcuffs, and directs him to sit. The available chair is crammed between the wall and a table that's too big for the space. On is literally trapped. And then that's where the interrogation started.

32:38Jason:Who had the knife out there? I don't know. What is it? It's awful.

32:45Jason:This is stupid shit, dude. Why would clothes get burned out at your house? What are you talking about? On sticks to the plan he made with Trung. Say nothing. But he is starting to spiral. I'm just like sitting there feeling like life is over. The detectives tell On they know he's lying. Sometimes the truth hurts. We understand that, okay? You understand what I'm saying? I know you don't want to get certain people in trouble. Ahn knows they mean his brother. They're trying to get him to incriminate Trung, but he sticks to the script. What are you talking about? The detectives stand up from the table, hand Ahn some water, and tell him they'll get him food.

33:32Jason:We'll be back. Same time, okay? We'll be back. What's going to happen now? We'll come back and talk to you about it, okay? Can you just tell me now? No, I can't tell you right now because we're not done with anything yet, okay? They can't tell him because they're questioning Trung in another room. Down the hall, Trung gives the minimum, where he works and the kind of car he drives. And then they ask about the party. What did you do yesterday?

34:05Jason:I just want to talk to a lawyer. You want to talk to a lawyer? Yes. Trung definitely wants a lawyer. Anything I'd say will be used against me. So you're saying that you don't want to talk to us until you have a lawyer here? Okay. All right. Okay. So just so you know, what we're going to do right now is we're going to have somebody in there. We're going to take some pictures of you and stuff like that. And then we're going to go ahead and you're going to get booked into jail. Is it juvenile? Is it juvenile? Trung asks. No, county jail. Men's jail. Everybody knows that County is nothing like Juvie.

34:43And this answer is definitely not what 18-year-old Trung wants to hear. But the detective isn't finished.

34:50Jason:Are you curious of what you're going to get booked for? Or do you even care? What is it for? Murder.

35:02Jason:Okay.

35:08Jason:I remember telling myself, like, although you may be feeling a lot of emotions right now, just don't show it to them. When I heard him said, do you even care what you're being charged for? Of course I cared.

35:31A few rooms over, Ahn experiences the same series of events. He's also told he's getting booked into county jail on suspicion of murder. Then detectives reunite the brothers in an interrogation room.

35:52When they see each other, their relief is palpable, but they also understand what's going on. The detectives are leaving them alone, together, hoping they'll incriminate themselves.

36:04Jason:The video recording of their time together in this room is hard to hear, but their actions are very clear. After detectives shut the door, An doubles over, his head against Trung's leg, his body heaving. Trung squeezes his shoulder. Let him know, like, I'm going to be strong here. Like, trying to ensure, like, things are going to be okay. They take turns gasping. Short bursts of emotion, which they quickly pull back. Trying to be stoic, like their dad has taught them. An has always been good at suppressing his emotions. But in this moment, he's struggling. He tells Trung he's cold, and Trung takes off his long-sleeved shirt and gives it to him.

37:02Then Trung takes each of An's hands in his own.

37:06Jason:It was kind of very hard to be the comforter, trying to be the caretaker. I saw a lot of vulnerability in him, and I just wanted all that to be gone. And then Trung starts crying too, his whole body shaking. It's hard to make out, but through his tears, he says something about what's going to happen to their parents.

37:37Through all of this, he doesn't let go of his brother's hands.

37:46Their time together doesn't last long. They're cuffed again and taken downstairs to be booked into the county jail, where they'll wait to hear what the police will do next. They change from their t-shirts and pajamas into red tunics and pants. Double red, the color given to the most serious offenders. They ask if they can stay together in county jail, ideally in the same cell. But the officers take each of them away, neither knowing when they may see the other again.

38:26A couple days later, the brothers' attorneys relay their official charges. They've determined that Trung will be charged with murder. Ahn will be charged as an accessory because, the police say, he helped dispose of evidence after the fact. Ana is now eligible for bail An officer walks him over to Juvenile Hall And hands him a juvie uniform But then, something very strange happens After a couple of nights in juvie Ana is shuttled back to the main jail Into a holding tank full of Asian guys in red I walked up looking like a little kid For a moment, Ahn feels both embarrassed and vulnerable. But then he sees Trung is there too.

39:17An officer motions for Ahn and hands him the same double red uniform. Detectives are also talking to an eyewitness who claims to have actually seen the stabbing happen. An eyewitness who initially didn't want to talk, but has since changed his mind under pressure from the authorities.

39:39Jason:I want you to understand all these instructions. I am going to show you multiple subjects. Individuals may or may not appear exactly as they did. Appearances are subject to change. The person or persons involved in this investigation may or may not be shown. An officer starts to give instructions to An, Trang, and the five other Asian guys in double reds. That's when the realization hits the twins. Oh shit, we're here for a lineup. They're coming in one through seven. In that order. Okay. One through seven. The first woman. The eyewitness sits behind a one-way mirror, looking into the room. One at a time, the men walk through the door.

40:23And thus begins a kind of audition. An officer guides each inmate in a slow circle, allowing the audience behind the mirror to assess the performer from multiple angles.

40:34Jason:Good. Next one. The witness dismisses number one and number two. In walks number three, Trung. He looks exhausted, his head down. The officer tells him to raise his chin. Just as he turns away from the mirror, the eyewitness speaks up for the first time. We're done. We're done, he says. As in, it's him, Trung. I just need you to look through every one eye. The lineup isn't over. Fast forward through two more auditions. When he sees on, the eyewitness speaks up immediately. Wow, that's funny. I picked the wrong one. I did pick the wrong one. Wow, that's funny. I picked the wrong one. He picked the wrong one?

41:35How do I even talk about the insanity of this moment? Or really, of this whole situation? To put two identical twins in a lineup? Really? Every time I think about this, I just want to shake the detectives. or the deputy district attorney or whoever had this bright idea. But so it goes. Now that the eyewitness has seen On, he no longer believes Trung is the guilty brother. When the detectives ask him if he wants to see the lineup again, just to make sure, he agrees.

42:12Jason:Which one of those subjects did you recognize in the incident? For a second time, the eyewitness chooses On, not Trung. Because I've seen his fucking beauty mark. the little mole above Ahn's mustache. I was close enough to his face when everything happened. What was that person's role? In the incident. Were you asking me to explain to you what he did? Yes. He stabbed someone. Okay. Ahn did it, the witness says. He saw it with his own eyes. Anything further? I think we're all good. The detectives ask the eyewitness to sign a piece of paper confirming his testimony. Then they turn off the video.

42:53The brothers are told nothing. They say goodbye to each other once again.

42:59Jason:We hug, said my goodbyes, and had me go back to juvie.

43:09Over the next few days, Trung is moved twice. He's first downgraded from maximum security to the general population cells. Then he's taken to a minimum security facility. He is confused. Hasn't he been charged with murder?

43:25Jason:And that's when I realized, like, what the hell is going on? Back in juvie, Ahn is about to get the answer. A corrections officer leads him into an interrogation room where two detectives are waiting, the same guys who interrogated him a week ago. Those officers just asked me, like, okay, so now do you have anything to tell us, you know? Ahn says no, and that's when they confirm. They are switching the charges. Trung is getting the accessory, and Ahn is being charged with murder. When they announced that they're switching charges and they're charging me with it, they asked, how do you feel? I was like, oh.

44:06Ahn is in shock. He didn't do this.

44:09Jason:So they just told him straight up, like, you guys got the wrong person, you got the wrong person. The detectives ignore this because that's what everyone says. And Ahn doesn't say any more. He cannot and will not tell them who the right person is. Because it's his brother. What could I do? He doesn't resist as he's cuffed and led out of juvie and back across the law enforcement complex to county jail, where he will wait to be formally indicted for murder. A murder that he did not commit.

44:51Trung receives the news that the charges are being reversed.

44:55Jason:He's going home. I was shocked. I just couldn't believe it. He moves out of county jail quickly, and his girlfriend takes him home to a strange new reality. When I came home, I was sitting in a room alone, by myself, that song. All of Me by John Legend played. Truong has heard this song before, lots of times. But now he starts to really listen to these lyrics about unconditional love, about the unbreakable bond that two people share. That's when I dropped down to my knees. I was wailing. What the fuck? My brother's still in there. and I'm in here, like, how did this happen? I just felt so guilty.

45:45Jason:And I felt so cowardly as well. Because I was very glad to be free. And it was at the cost of my brother's freedom. I started this episode with Shakespeare. Shakespeare being, in a way, the reason I learned about this story in the first place. And when I think about Truong on the floor of his room, free at his brother's expense, spinning between guilt and relief, I picture Hamlet, Othello, or Macbeth, someone facing a crisis of the soul, a person locked in a battle between desire and loyalty, between selfishness and sacrifice, between free will and fate. That battle, with its Shakespearean proportions, is what first pulled me into this story.

46:41How could Trung abandon his brother, his twin, the person he loves so deeply? And why would Ann just let it happen and take the blame? I've been talking to the twins for five years now, trying to answer these questions. and I've come to understand how the path leading to that fateful party started long before Trung knocked on Ahn's door that evening, even before they arrived in America as little kids. That path is rooted in the very essence of their twinness, two brothers who shared a womb, who were each other's closest childhood companions, who were raised to dress and act as one, but were constantly pulled between competing forces and who could never escape their twinness and the egregious mishaps caused by their nearly identical faces.

47:36It all leads me to one question that I and the twins are still trying to find the answer to, a question that we all must contend with at some point in our lives. How much of who we are is truly our own and how much is determined by those closest to us.

48:03Jason:He's the only murder client I've had in my career who was an Eagle Scout. He's tired of being told that he's scared of fight or scared of react, you know. That definitely builds up. If Trung really cared about you the way you cared about him, he would have stepped up already. I would be lying if I said I wasn't proud of him. If you want to start enjoying the benefits, you got to put your balls on the line. After that, I was like, no, I'm going to join a gang. This is not going to happen anymore. They have been ordered to attack. Oftentimes that means with very severe violence, I could just be executed right there.

48:42That's all coming up this season on Blood Will Tell.

48:59Blood Will Tell is a production of Wondery and Campside Media. This series is reported, written, and hosted by me, Jen Miller. For Campside Media, our senior producers are Lindsay Kilbride and Ashley-Ann Krigbaum. Our producer is Annie Nguyen. Our story editor is Ashley-Ann Krigbaum. Sound Design and Mix by Iwen Laitremuen and Mark McAdam. Fact Checking by Tracy Lee. Consulting by Thomas Liu. Translation by Tran Vu. For Wondery, Managing Producer is Sarah Mathes. Lutta Pandya is Senior Managing Producer. Senior Development Editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Executive Producers are Josh Dean, Vanessa Gregoriadis, Adam Hoff, and Matt Scherr for Campside Media.

49:46Executive Producers are Nigeri Eaton, Julia Lowry Henderson, Marshall Louis, and Jen Sargent for Wondery.

50:16Jason:or know exactly what you want, Tire Rack makes it easy. Fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection, and convenient installation options. Go to TireRack.com to see tire test results, tire ratings, and consumer reviews, and be sure to check out all the special offers. TireRack.com, the way tire buying should be.