Police identify slain Newport newlyweds

Marisa O’Neil

Uyen Tran had a fairy-tale wedding planned for February at a ritzy

Dana Point hotel, a wedding she and her husband won’t get to have.

Newport Beach Police found 35-year-old Tran, known to her friends

as Lisa, and her new husband, 37-year-old Aaron Miles, dead in her

West Newport apartment Wednesday afternoon. Police believe Miles shot

his wife, then turned the handgun on himself.

Though the couple had already married in a civil ceremony in

October, invitations had gone out for a bigger ceremony next year.

Tran, who worked as a broker for Millennium Mortgage in Newport

Beach, had invited at least one of her clients, Costa Mesa resident

John Papillon.

“All she would talk about was looking forward to that wedding,” he

said. “I was shocked [to hear of her death]. She’s a newlywed and --

boom -- she’s gone.”

Police say Tran sent a text message to a relative Wednesday

morning, saying that if anything happened to her, her husband was

responsible. The relative called Newport Beach Police, who sent

officers to her Lugonia Street duplex to check on the couple, Newport

Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman said.

There, police found the newlyweds shot to death in the upstairs

apartment they shared. Tran’s 10-year-old son from a previous

marriage was not home at the time of the incident, police said.

The night before, Tran had spent a late night in the office

working with Papillon on a refinance of his mortgage, he said. She

had also worked on his initial mortgage a few years earlier.

On Tuesday night, the normally upbeat Tran seemed more serious

than usual, but nothing seemed amiss, Papillon said. She sent him

home and said she’d finish up the transaction, he said.

“She said: ‘I’ll take care of it, honey,’” he said.

He tried to call her on Wednesday, and when he couldn’t get ahold

of her, he figured she took the day off after working the late night,

he said.

Tran worked in the mortgage industry for more than 10 years and

was well-known locally, said Luis Chevere, branch manager at

Millennium Mortgage.

“She was a very pumped-up person,” he said. “She was ready to do

her job day in and day out.”

Friends and relatives of Miles are also having a hard time making

sense of what police say happened Wednesday.

Miles, from Texas, had planned to bring his new wife to meet his

family this winter, relatives said. Miles attended the U.S. Naval

Academy and served in the Marines, they said.

He had lived in California for about four years, moving from Palos

Verdes to Newport Beach when he married Tran.

Miles worked in investments and administered a hedge fund, friends

who asked not to be identified said. Many people invested in the

fund, which was performing well until recently, the friend said.

“He was very kind,” she said. “It’s hard to imagine that he would

do this.”

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.