Police fear missing woman has succumbed to cold

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- It has been nearly three weeks since anyone last saw or heard from a young Oklahoma City woman, and now police are fearing the worst.

"I'm lost," Loan Kim Thi Nguyen could be heard saying through static on her cellular phone. "It's dark. I'm in a forest."

The connection broke after those eight words, the last communication Nguyen's roommate had with her.

On Dec. 2, Nguyen, 22, was seen climbing into her ex-boyfriend's van as she left her job at the Pho Hoa restaurant in northwest Oklahoma City.

She recently had broken up with My Hoang Dang and had moved in with one of her co-workers, fleeing what police called a "volatile relationship."

Nguyen, a resident alien from Vietnam, rode off in Dang's blue and silver Chevrolet van. Neither she nor Dang, 25, have been seen since.

At 10:46 p.m. that day, Nguyen called her new roommate on her cellular phone and said she was lost.

The call was traced to the nearest repeater tower. When she placed the call, police said, Nguyen was near Tiger Mountain in a heavily wooded area southeast of Henryetta.

Police have been unable to narrow the search any further. They fear that Nguyen -- who was wearing a white dress shirt, black pants and black shoes -- may have stumbled through the woods, lost, until she died of exposure.

Police do not believe she was slain.

"At this point we have no reason to suspect foul play," said Capt. LaNell White, a police spokeswoman.

------ Anyone with information about Loan Kim Thi Nguyen or My Hoang Dang can call Crime Stoppers, (405) 235-7300.