Sokha Khuon, a 36-year-old woman, was killed on January 7, 2018, in her Portland, Maine home. Her death was the result of multiple gunshot wounds in an act of domestic violence. Neighbors called 911 after hearing gunshots at the Dorothy Street residence she shared with her long-time partner, Anthony Leng, and two of their three children. When police arrived, they found Ms.
Khuon deceased inside the home and the two children, aged 10 and 15, outside and unharmed.
The investigation into the suspicious death quickly focused on her 40-year-old domestic partner, Anthony Leng. Initially, Leng claimed he acted in self-defense, alleging that Khuon had come at him with a knife during an argument. However, prosecutors contended that Leng had planted the knives found near her body to support his story. The state medical examiner's office determined that Khuon had been shot at least five times.
Less than a week after Khuon's death, Anthony Leng was arrested when he arrived at the police department for questioning. He was subsequently charged with her murder. In September 2019, Leng pleaded guilty to the murder charge. This plea was part of an agreement to spare his children from having to testify at a trial. In December 2019, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison, the maximum sentence allowed under the plea deal. During the sentencing, it was revealed that the couple's daughter had written a letter stating that she had been verbally and emotionally abused by her father and that he had threatened both her and her mother long before the murder. Leng, in a statement read by his attorney, attributed the shooting to "blind anger." An obituary for Khuon, who was born in Thailand and graduated from Portland High School, remembered her as a loving mother who enjoyed gardening, fishing, and cooking.
