Nguyet Minh Nguyen, also known as Anna, was a 32-year-old Asian female who was last seen on November 9, 1998, in the Seattle, Washington area. She was described as 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing about 110 to 120 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes, and pierced ears; reports also noted that she sometimes used variations of her name, including Nguyet Nguyen Minh or Minh Nguyen Nguyet.
On the day she disappeared, she was reportedly wearing a black dress, a black T-shirt with an attached white vest, a black leather coat or black blazer, black dress shoes, a diamond ring, and a gold chain necklace with a cross pendant.
The events surrounding her disappearance began with what should have been an ordinary family moment. Nguyet left home after telling her family she was going to visit her fiancé. Reports state that she and her fiancé had plans to fly to Reno, Nevada, and get married, but she never made that trip and was never heard from again. Her disappearance was reported by her family on November 10, 1998, the day after she vanished, beginning an investigation that would carry on for decades.
Two days after she was last seen, investigators located her white Acura in Tukwila, Washington, in the parking lot of the Riverside Inn, described in reports as a bar, casino, or local nightclub/restaurant area on Interurban Avenue South. That discovery deepened the concern around the case because the car was separated from Nguyet, and there was still no contact from her. The Charley Project reports the vehicle as a white 1996 Acura Legend with Washington license plate 855FDS, while case data connected to NamUs lists a white Acura sedan with the same Washington license plate and a location in the parking lot of a restaurant at 14060 Interurban Avenue South in Tukwila.
From the early stages, detectives suspected foul play. Investigators questioned Nguyet’s ex-boyfriend, Phan Kim Seng, after her vehicle was found. According to reports describing statements from deputies, he denied involvement but gave changing accounts of where he had been around the time Nguyet disappeared. The Charley Project further reports that, in the days after her disappearance, Seng used Nguyet’s debit card at cash machines at different Seafirst banks in the Seattle area and was later charged in connection with unauthorized use of that card.
There was also a troubling history reported between Nguyet and Seng. Less than two months before she vanished, Seng had reportedly been accused of choking her, destroying her property, and disabling her phone after she tried to end their relationship. He was charged with fourth-degree assault and third-degree malicious mischief in connection with that earlier incident. Investigators later indicated a possible motive may have involved preventing Nguyet from testifying in the assault case and stopping her from getting married, though authorities did not release extensive details about all evidence in the murder case.
For many years, Nguyet’s family had to live with the pain of her absence and the uncertainty of not having her remains recovered. She left behind an 11-year-old daughter and an elderly mother, and she had worked as a hairstylist at a Hair Masters salon in Burien. Official reports state that the King County Medical Examiner’s Office issued a death certificate for her in 2015, despite the fact that her body had never been found. That formal recognition did not erase the unanswered questions, but it reflected the direction investigators had long believed the case had taken.
In 2019, the case moved forward after King County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes detectives reexamined evidence from 1998. Detective John Free reviewed extensive casino surveillance footage from around the time Nguyet disappeared, including approximately 283 hours of footage from six cameras, according to KIRO 7. Investigators said the review produced information that had not been fully documented or understood in the original investigation and led them to further suspect Seng’s involvement. He was arrested in October 2019 and charged with second-degree murder.
Nguyet Minh Nguyen’s case is the story of a young mother and daughter, a woman preparing for a future that was taken from her, and a family left waiting for answers across many years. She was last seen on November 9, 1998, in the Seattle area, after leaving to visit her fiancé; her vehicle was later found in Tukwila; investigators suspected foul play early; and a decades-long cold case investigation eventually led to the arrest and charging of her ex-boyfriend in connection with her death. Although Nguyet’s body has never been recovered, official reports recognize the case as a homicide investigation shaped by persistence, delayed evidence review, and the enduring grief of those who loved her.Last Seen: Nov 9, 1998
