Student's kin disagree with suicide ruling

Relatives of deceased University of Washington student Peter Dung Nguyen don't believe his June 5 death at a fraternity house was a suicide as police have concluded.

The family has hired a private investigator and is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Nguyen, a 19-year-old sophomore, was found strangled by the pulley cable of a weightlifting machine in the basement of the Zeta Psi fraternity house, where he was a member.

In ruling the death a suicide, Seattle police and the King County Medical Examiner's Office said there were no unusual marks inconsistent with a suicide and no signs of a struggle.

But Dale Nguyen says it would have been physically impossible for his brother to lift the 200 pounds that were locked in the machine to create enough cable slack to make a loop big enough to put his head through.

"My brother was a small guy; how could he lift that without help?" said Dale Nguyen.

Nguyen did not leave a suicide note, and family, friends and one of his professors said he showed no signs of being depressed. He already had plans for the summer, which included visiting his sister and a girlfriend in California on June 17, family members said.

On the day he died, Nguyen took a final exam at 8:30 a.m. and returned to the fraternity house in the 4700 block of 21st Avenue Northeast. Fellow fraternity members reported seeing him around the house as late as 1 p.m., according to a police report.

At 9:30 p.m., fraternity member Ryan Osborne found Nguyen's body suspended by the neck from a cable attached to the weight machine. Other members entered the weight room, brought Nguyen down and called police.

Calls to the fraternity house went unanswered yesterday.

Medical examiner Jason Berman determined the time of death as noon, plus or minus three hours. "The scene and corresponding interviews and investigations did not reveal any immediately obvious signs to suggest that Mr. Nguyen did not act alone," Berman wrote.

The family is circulating a reward poster and has created a Web site (www.geocities.com/tai301/peternguyen.htm) in his memory and to seek information about his death.

Nguyen held a 2.8 grade-point average at the UW, his family said. He recently was denied admission to the UW Business School.

His parents, who live in Federal Way, last saw him the Sunday before his death when they all attended church.

UW professor Connie So had Nguyen in a winter class in Asian-American studies. She said he was "very likable," well-known and close to his family.

"I'm surprised by what happened," she said. "If he did commit suicide, I'm really surprised he didn't leave a note to them."

Ray Rivera's phone message number is 206-464-2926. His e-mail address is rarivera@seattletimes.com.

Florangela Davila's phone message number is 206-464-2916. Her e-mail address is fdavila@seattletimes.com.