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Pipo Nguyen-duy, a celebrated photography professor at Oberlin College and Conservatory in Ohio, died at the age of 64 after police found him fatally shot inside an off-campus home on Wednesday. His son, Daniel Jones, formerly known as Asia Nguyen-duy, now faces double homicide charges in connection with the deaths of both his father and his stepmother, Tran Thi Phong.
Two Victims Found Shot Inside the Home
Local police discovered both victims with multiple gunshot wounds. Officers found Nguyen-duy on the first floor of the residence and Phong on the second floor. In a statement released Thursday, police confirmed that both victims had suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
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Before the bodies were found, firefighters responded to a burning vehicle in an Oberlin College campus parking lot. That vehicle belonged to Jones. Approximately 90 minutes later, an Oberlin resident called police to report a “wet disheveled man” at her front door. Officers responded and arrested Jones without incident.
Son Appears in Court and Makes Damaging Statements
Jones appeared in court Thursday afternoon in handcuffs and ankle shackles. A judge ordered him held in jail and set bail at $3 million. Prosecutor Zachary Simonoff told the court that Jones had asked the resident to record a video of him to post online.
In that video, Jones identified himself as Asia Nguyen-duy and claimed he was escaping a cult. He also stated, “Everything I did was on my own accord and I take full responsibility.” Simonoff further told the court that when officers first spoke with Jones, he told them he had “killed his family” and provided his father’s address.
Meanwhile, police contacted Jones’s mother in Oregon. She told investigators that her son is psychotic and requires medication. Authorities are still investigating a motive. The weapon allegedly used in the shooting has not yet been found.
A Beloved Professor and Internationally Recognized Artist
Nguyen-duy joined Oberlin College as a studio art and photography professor in 1998. Oberlin College President Carmen Twillie Ambar addressed students and colleagues in a statement Wednesday, expressing deep sorrow over his death.
“Pipo was beloved,” Ambar wrote. “During his years at Oberlin, he touched all of us through his passion for photography. Our community will be hurting for a very long time.” She added that the college community would need time to process their grief, both together and individually.
Nguyen-duy immigrated from Vietnam in 1975 as a political refugee. He took up photography in his late 20s and later earned his MA and MFA from the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque. Over the course of his career, he became an internationally exhibited visual artist and received the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in photography.
The Guggenheim Foundation paid tribute to him on Instagram, noting that his work explored immigration, cultural assimilation, intimacy, abandonment, and the cost of war. In 2023, Nguyen-duy participated in the 15th Sharjah Biennial, exhibiting photographs of schoolchildren in what appeared to be the Vietnamese countryside, some napping on felled trees while others held assault rifles.
