Man suspected of throwing woman from building at UCI before jumping to his own death was victim’s son

A 36-year-old man hurled his 77-year-old mother from the landing of a multistory building at UCI before also jumping out of it, leaving both dead Monday, police said.

Andrew Nguyen Doan was described as the suspect in what is being investigated by Irvine police as a murder-suicide. He and his mother, Thi Thao Nguyen, were found dead in the campus’s social sciences plaza, near the 200 block of Pereira Drive, at about 4 p.m. on Dec. 12.

Investigators have not publicly discussed a motive for their deaths. People apparently consoling each other Wednesday evening in front of the Irvine home Doan and Nguyen shared declined to speak with the Daily Pilot.

Authorities had been called to the residence multiple times in the past, and Doan was known to Irvine police, Sgt. Karie Davies said. They were most recently summoned to the home in 2019 for “mental health concerns,” the sergeant wrote in a statement.

Doan studied biology at UCI but did not graduate from the school, university spokesman Tom Vasich said. He first enrolled in 2017. He last attended classes in 2019.

He was charged with two felonies in June that year. He pleaded guilty to one count of sexual battery and not guilty to oral copulation of an unconscious person. The latter charge was dismissed.

The crime he was convicted of took place at a mental health facility while he was a patient there, Orange County district attorney spokeswoman Kimberly Edds said. The victim was his roommate there at the time. Doan was eventually sentenced to 156 days in jail and three years of probation, according to court records.

Nguyen did not appear to have any connection to UCI outside of her son’s prior enrollment. It’s unclear why they were on campus on Monday. There were no reports of an argument between her and Doan immediately preceding the apparent murder-suicide, Davies said.

Classes were out of session for winter break, so few people would have been at the social sciences plaza at the time, Natalia Sanchez, assistant director of recruitment for UCI’s Paul Merage School of Business, said during a brief interview at the scene Wednesday. However, the university’s buildings remain unlocked for staff during business hours, which means anyone would have been able to go in and access their upper floors.

A white origami crane sat at the top of steps in the plaza where Doan and Nguyen’s bodies were found, next to a large, reddish-brown mark on the floor that hadn’t been there the day before their deaths, business student Wen Jie said Wednesday. A glass ornament, framed picture of an angel and a message offering condolences from a UCI alumna were left on a bench a few feet away.

Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.