Chris Deback
Appearances
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
She said, I think I saw her on December 4th with an unknown white male and never seen the guy before, nothing. So I asked her, I said, well, where did you see her in the casino exactly? And what was she doing? Did she appear to be scared or anything like that? She said, no, she appeared to be normal. I didn't go up and talk to her or anything like that, but I'm pretty sure it was her.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
So I started checking into that, checked her players' records, got with surveillance to figure out exactly what camera she might be on. And they were never able to find anything. So whether it was her or not, I couldn't tell you.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
So I got with the Louisiana Gaming Commission, and between them, Mississippi Gaming Commission, and casinos, we were able to check every casino nationally and put out a bolo, and there was nothing. New Orleans, Lake Charles, Las Vegas, nothing other than here in Biloxi.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
At this point, I can't say that there's a person of interest, but at the same time, you know, whether you want to call them witnesses or friends, associates, it's an active missing person case, so it's kind of hard to rule anybody out at this point. But no, there's no front-running, you know, person of interest, nothing like that.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
I'd love to talk to that driver, the unknown white female, and let's say December sighting was accurate, the unknown white male. Those would be the three people that I'd want to talk to right now. Or anybody that knows where she may have been staying at between the 30th of September and the 3rd of October.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
The unknown, the inability to get information on those few days in the middle of where exactly she was or what exactly she was doing, and not having the ability to go back and get the surveillance, a lot of the surveillance, most of it, as a matter of fact. Because it's just gone. You know, we lost it in time.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
The records at the time, as far as the cell phone records, you know, certainly details are better nowadays than they were even in 2008. And not being able to pinpoint, you know, that cell phone ping where she was making the calls because it hit a switch tower. And then unfortunately, majority of the calls she made in that last day went unanswered. So to me, that's the frustration.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
There's nowhere to go to get the questions answered. And unless somebody comes forward that knows, you know, has those answers, there's no technology we can use to get it. No records we can go dig up. We haven't received any new leads, any new information in over a decade now.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
And the few attempts or times that I've been able to pull it out and look at it and try to rerun the information, trying to find a new connection, I've gotten nowhere. I think anything is important, especially if we're talking about the time frame, again, through the end of September.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
I say through the beginning of October, but if she was observed or seen after that, that information is important, too. So it doesn't matter how small it is or insignificant you believe it is. You know, any information can help. And it's a puzzle. You're trying to put the puzzle together, and you may have that piece.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
Whether it's very valuable or it's not as significant, it's still part of the puzzle.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
One of the first things I did was call them to find out more about their mother and what she might have been doing here in Biloxi. Asked them the normal stuff. Does she have bank accounts? What's her cell phone number? Who might she contact? Who her friends were? If she came over with a friend.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
I did ask them, we're talking about the end of September and this is beginning of November, why they waited so long. They kind of reiterated that whole three-week thing and it kind of made sense a little bit, you know, wasn't out of the ordinary. But once they started calling around, they couldn't get in touch with her.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
She usually would return calls and if she wasn't returning calls, that's when they got concerned.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
When you're tracking missing persons, that's one of the first things you look at, along with their cell phone. And so that was out the window.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
Everybody I talked to, you know, asked about the boyfriend. Was there problems there or anything like that? And I said, no, they got along real well. There wasn't anything that raises an eyebrow for anybody. Even checked into that background because, you know, certainly a domestic is one way to go.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
But, you know, I was able to confirm he was at work and there was no past reports or any indication that there was an issue there.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
Tried to call her, couldn't get a hold of her. Went to the normal locations looking for her, couldn't find her, talked to the family and everything else. He also found out that the rent hadn't been paid, none of the other bills had been paid. About the end of the month, each month, he would send her about $4,000 to pay rent, buy groceries, things of that nature, live.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
And there was no indication that the $4,000 was left behind.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
And nothing. They used her maiden name, her current name, everything. It did not appear she left this country.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
I started contacting the different casinos to find out if she had a player's card, if she had ever stayed there, any information I could about her. So when you go to a casino, you can get a player's card. It's kind of like a member card for that casino. It's specific to each casino. And what you do is like if you're playing slots or something like that, you can put your card in.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
It tracks your points. It just tracks your history. But the only two casinos that really had current activity around that time, the end of September 2008 to October 2008, was the RP Casino in Beaurevage.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
In all indications, she did stay from the 27th through the 30th. When we checked with the Imperial Palace, where we know she stayed at, nothing had been left in the room.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
At the time, it was a little bit difficult. They really didn't have a place to go search. Certainly the casinos did our best there with the assistance of surveillance and security. But other than that, we really had no place to go search anywhere.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
It appears the last time her phone was used was at 3 o'clock in the morning on October 4th. She called a phone. It went unanswered. So nobody was able to talk to her at that point, if she's the one making the call. After that point, I can tell you there were several incoming calls, but no answers.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
So I could tell that she didn't answer, and I can tell that nobody ever made another call from her phone. by looking at the 24 hours prior to that call to see who she called and if they knew anything and what was the reasoning for that call.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
He said that usually when she would call, it was, hey, come, I'm in town, come gamble with me and all that. But he was working, didn't really have the time, so he just didn't answer the calls. That was one of the last calls that was made.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
Well, they hung out at the IP Casino for several hours, and then they decided to go over to the Beaurevage. They were at the Beaurevage, the three of them, for another several hours. And around 4 o'clock on the 4th, she says, well, I'm going to go down to the Grand Casino. And the gentleman gives her $5 for the cab.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
As far as the Grand Casino, we have no indication that she ever arrived through surveillance or a player's card. That's the last time she's seen me. Sometimes you'll find where taxi companies keep the records, their pickups, drop-offs. I couldn't find any pickup or drop-off in the area for that timeframe.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
I know she was at the bar of eyes on the morning. But if you look at her phone records, it's hitting further north up in the county. It's a switch tower. So if the tower gets overloaded or something like that, it switches to another location. So the GPS location didn't help on the cell phone records.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
When Bob met up at the IP casino on the night of the 3rd, this unknown female was with her. The only thing he could tell me is that she was foreign. He didn't know where she was from, who she was, anything like that.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
None of them could tell me who this person was, but they thought she was involved in some kind of prostitution or something. I don't know how they got the idea she might even be involved in prostitution. Nobody ever came forward with any information for that. I would say I'm very skeptical of this unknown female. I know what people are saying, what they believe. I don't know how they...
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
I wanna say assumed or what their theory is, where it came from that she might've been involved in prostitution. I still haven't figured that one out. But if that is anywhere close to accurate, maybe she got hooked up with the wrong people and maybe that's who she was staying with and something went wrong.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
You know, she checks out IP on the 30th. Where did she stay between the 30th and the morning of the 4th? I can't even put her gambling at any of the casinos other than two days during that period, one being the last day and one being one of the first days she's there. So I haven't been able to determine or figure out what she did in the middle there.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
It's just, the story is so weird between those dates that she just, she wasn't at a casino, or if she was, she wasn't using her player's card, she wasn't on any kind of video that we know of, and she wasn't checked into a hotel, so I don't know where she was staying at, who she was with. And majority of the time we get a report of a missing person.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
We find them a couple hours later and, you know, sometimes they're sitting at another casino. Sometimes they just, you know, went to sleep or whatever it is. But thankfully, majority of missing person reports, that's how they end up. They just lost track of time or whatever, cell phone died, whatever it is.
The Deck
My-Dung Tran (10 of Spades, Mississippi)
From what I know, she would come over to Biloxi on the bus, sometimes with a friend, sometimes not. She'd usually stay a couple days to a week, and from what her family tells me, sometimes it'd be up to three weeks. So it wasn't anything unusual for her to be over here. But she always would call or keep in contact with a friend or something.