ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The trial started Tuesday for a man accused of stabbing a UCF student to death. Prosecutors say Loc Tran tried to cover up the murder by stabbing himself.
It has taken more than three years to get the case to trial. It is actually a second trial in the case.
The first time around, there was a mistrial called after a judge realized she had been Tran's public defender a few years earlier, but Tuesday, with a new judge, the trial quickly moved along.
Three years after his arrest for murder, Loc Tran's trial is finally underway. He's accused of stabbing his girlfriend Anh Tran to death in her East Orange County home.
Anh Tran's roommate, Sarah Long, testified Tuesday morning she and Anh's sisters had to break down the door when no one answered from inside Anh's bedroom.
"At that time I didn't want to enter the room, just saw blood, I was frantic and screaming," she described.
They found her on the bed, bleeding with no pulse and her body was cold.
Loc Tran was in bed with her, bleeding, but still alive. Trauma surgeon, Dr. Michael Cheatham, pointed out that his wounds were superficial, as if he stabbed himself.
"A vast majority of stab wounds never penetrated the abdomen," he said.
Loc Tran's attorney tried to keep information about the self-inflicted wounds out of the trial and later even called for a mistrial, saying that it's just an opinion. The judge denied that request.
Anh's roommate testified that Loc Tran, who's a convicted kidnapper and rapist, sent Anh unpleasant text messages after she broke up with him, but he still spent time at her home.
"Sometimes he was there when she wasn't," Sarah Long said.
Investigators say there was no sign of a struggle, but they found strips of clothes on the bedposts and on the wrists and ankles of both people.
"Clothes tied up, like somebody had been tied up," she said.
According to investigators Tran said he didn't know who stabbed him, but shook his head ‘no' when asked if he stabbed himself.
More witnesses are expected to be called to the stand on Wednesday.
WFTV
