Ex-Renton Man Suspected of Murder Faces Hearing on Sex Offender Charge

A former Renton man who federal prosecutors believe killed a woman in Vietnam two years ago and has a long history of violence towards women is facing a hearing in Seattle Friday for failing to register as a sex offender.

Seattlepi.com reports prosecutors will try to show Timothy Doran killed Bich Ngoc Thi Nguyen during the hearing, in an effort to secure a long prison sentence on the failing to register charge.

The U.S and Vietnam have no extradition treaty, so it appears unlikely he will face trial in Vietnam for the killing, despite calls by Nguyen’s family for that.

She was found dead in March 2011 in a Vietnam apartment rented by Doran, 47, a convicted rapist and former Renton resident. She was discovered in a closet, her mouth taped shut, severely beaten and strangled. But by then, seattlepi.com reports, Doran was long gone, having returned to the United States.

Prosecutors are bringing in a detective from Vietnam and a witness who claims Doran admitted killing Nguyen to testify before U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnick at the hearing Friday in U.S District Court in Seattle.

They seek to have him sentenced to 10 years in prison on the failing to register charge.

“We are putting on witnesses to show with clear and convincing evidence (the standard) that he killed the woman in Vietnam,” Emily Langlie, spokeswoman for the U.S Prosecuting Attorney’s office in Seattle, told Patch on Friday.

Doran allegedly described himself to investigators as a gigolo who has had sex with “a couple hundred” women. He was convicted of assaulting his then-wife in 1990, breaking her ankle, and for the rape of a girlfriend in 1992 when he was living in Buckley. For the latter crime he spent six years in prison.

He remains in custody, having surrendered to authorities in late 2011.

For the full seattlepi.com story, click here.