The parents of Rena Nguyen said their daughter was an accomplished student with big dreams and aspirations, but she unfortunately faced repeated acts of violence and abuse from a man she was dating. 

Nguyen, a 20-year-old student at Brigham Young University, died of a gunshot wound on Oct. 1, 2021.

She was living with her boyfriend Caleb Aiden Rees at the time, and according to court documents, she had a “tumultuous relationship” with him.

Last August, Rees, 30, of Orem was charged on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with Nguyen’s death in addition to multiple felony drug and firearms charges. 

Ahead of a preliminary hearing at the 4th District Court in Provo, Rose Nguyen offered a statement in the ongoing case detailing the suffering their daughter endured, including physical violence, emotional manipulation, psychological abuse and sexual assault.

“Rena had a future so full of promise, a future where she planned to serve to heal, to make the world gentler and more humane,” Rose Nguyen said outside of the Provo courthouse. “That future was stolen from her and from all of us in the most devastating way.”

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

At the hearing, Rees appeared in shackles from the Utah County Jail before 4th District Judge Sean Petersen.

State prosecutors called their key witness in the case, Jeffery Randall of the Orem Police Department, to give his testimony. 

Randall served as lead investigator and was among the first officers to respond to the home when Nguyen reportedly turned a gun on herself.

Amid the state’s examination that lasted nearly four hours, evidence based on Randall’s probable statement was presented before the court.

He recounted responding to the scene and finding Nguyen’s body in an upstairs bedroom. He noted a handgun near her feet and a spent casing in the hallway. 

First responders worked to render aid, then transported her to Utah Valley Hospital, where she died two days later.

The court documents reported that Rees and Nguyen were in the bedroom just after midnight, when he allegedly became irritated with her.

“He asked her if she would get him in trouble if they broke up. She responded that ‘it depends,’ at which point Rees allegedly became more upset, yelling at her and calling her ‘a rat,’ documents alleged.

Nguyen then allegedly texted a friend an hour later that read, “I just put a loaded gun with the safety off to my head. I can’t keep doing this. I want to live but not like this,” according to court documents.

In another audio recording played for the courtroom with a timestamp of around 3:24 that same morning, the two, identified by Randall, can be heard in an argument after Orem police called Nguyen’s phone for a welfare check at the request of her friend.

Rees can be heard demanding to see her phone.

Nguyen can be heard frantically crying and ultimately gives him the phone, and he responded by telling her that she had to leave the house and now he can no longer keep loaded firearms in the house.

Moments later, a gunshot is heard.

Charging documents stated that the gunshot wound was self-inflicted.

Rees allegedly told police in a statement that he had a loaded handgun on the side of the bed where she was before she shot herself. 

He said that when he got up to leave the room, she was sitting on a corner of the bed wrapped in a blanket.

“Rees told police that he then grabbed the loaded handgun and moved it to a table next to the bedroom door as he walked out — thereby placing the loaded handgun directly in the Victim’s line of sight,” documents stated.

Due to time constraints, Rees’ defense team did not have a chance to argue the allegations, and the judge called for a continuation of the hearing on Thursday morning.

Rena Nguyen’s parents, who flew to Utah from California for Tuesday’s hearing, urged people to be more aware of domestic violence signs.

They shared their relief at the ongoing litigation but acknowledged the long process ahead. 

“Rena deserved to live and deserved to flourish. She deserved to feel safe, and though she is no longer with us, we will carry her love, her strength and her life forward for the rest of our lives,” her mother Rose Nguyen said.