On September 22, 1994, at about 6:30 p.m., the body of a 14-year-old Nary Na, was found near a creek behind the Casa Linda Shopping Center in Dallas, Texas.
Four hours later, her boyfriend, 24-year-old Entre Nax Karage, flagged down a police officer and reported Na missing. He said he had been looking for her since mid-afternoon when she did not return from a shopping trip to Minyard’s Food Store, a grocery store that was a block away from a video store where Karage had been playing blackjack earlier that day. He had given Na the keys to his Honda Accord along with $300 to spend and she had not returned in time for him to go to work at 3 p.m.
At the time, Na was living with Karage in the “Little Asia” neighborhood of east Dallas. They planned to be married in a few months. They were both Cambodian and marriage at such an early age for girls was not unusual.
Na’s body was discovered by two young boys. The girl had a coat hanger around her neck and had been dropped off the higher ground and rolled down the bank to the creek. This location was approximately a 15-to-20 minute drive from Minyard’s.
An autopsy showed Na had pinpoint hemorrhages in her eyes as a result of the ligature around the neck. The girl had multiple blunt force injuries, including a skull fracture on the left side of her head, a lacerated or split liver, bruises on the cerebral cortex of her brain, and hemorrhages on her brain.
During the autopsy, a pathologist collected the ligature wire, foreign hairs or fibers from Na’s body, and a sample of her blood. In addition, a rape kit was collected. The evidence was sent to the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences (SWIFS).
When Karage reported Na was missing, Dallas Detective Kenneth Beck took him to the police station. There, Karage said that when Na had not returned by 2:30 p.m., he asked the video store owner, Pro Sok, to drive him around to look for her. When they did not find her, Karage asked family and neighbors to help him search.
Beck then informed Karage that Na’s body had been discovered. Karage’s Honda had been discovered in the Minyard’s parking lot. There was blood on the rear bumper, in the trunk, and on the trunk carpet. Na’s purse containing $263 was under the passenger seat, and groceries were also found in the car. Na still wore many pieces of jewelry.
The police believed that the motive was not robbery. They believed the girl had been killed in the car, her body put in the trunk, and then dumped behind the shopping center.
Karage denied any involvement in the attack. He cooperated during the interrogation. He gave the police his clothing, a sample of his DNA and agreed to a CAT scan to see if he had bruises.
He was considered the only suspect after a presumptive blood test on his clothing was positive for the presence of blood.
After nearly seven hours of interrogation, Karage signed a written statement insisting on his innocence. He was released.
As the investigation continued, a head hair fragment found on Na’s body was examined and determined to be from a Black person. DNA testing of the rape kit excluded Karage.
Because there was no evidence of vaginal tears or abrasions, the police concluded that no rape occurred, and that Na had consensual sex with a Black man. Consequently, Detective Beck concluded that Karage had killed Na in a jealous rage and then staged the search to cover up the murder.
In November 1994, Karage received a notice in the mail that a Dallas County grand jury was hearing evidence accusing him of the murder. Karage went to the Dallas County District Court to try to find out what was happening. He did not consult a lawyer. He was arrested and taken to the police station.
On November 13, 1994, Karage was charged with first-degree murder.
He went to trial on November 13, 1997 and chose to have Dallas County District Judge Karen Greene decide the case without a jury. The testimony was completed in one day.
Kim Houp, Karage’s sister, testified for the prosecution that at the time of murder, she was living in a house with her husband, her baby, her sister, her parents, her aunt and uncle, her grandmother, as well as Karage and Na. She had initially told Beck that the last time she saw Na was around noon when Na and Karage were going to the video store. She testified that Karage returned home between 3 and 4 p.m. but was impeached with her statement to Beck that Karage did not return until after 5 p.m.
Houp gave conflicting testimony about whether Karage had come back between 3 and 4 p.m. or whether he had telephoned instead. She admitted she had told Beck that Karage and Na had fought in the past and that on one occasion, Karage struck Na. On the witness stand, Houp modified her statement to say he had slapped her once because “she was going out…she liked to take [the] car and leave.”
The prosecutor also pointed out that Houp had said in her statement that there had been violence between Karage and Na because she wanted to be with other men.
Tuch Kloy testified he saw Na at the checkout counter at Minyard's Food Store about 5:30 p.m. He said she told him she was going to a party in Garland, but she did not know where in Garland the party would be. When he asked if he could go with her, she said he could, he said.
Sophi Di, a good friend of Na, testified for the prosecution that Karage was jealous of Na and protective of her. She recalled a time when she saw Na with a swollen lip and black eye. At that time Na, had gone to live with her mother. Di testified that Karage sought Di’s help in getting Na to return to him. DI said that Na had expressed an interest in Sok, the man who played blackjack with Karage at the video store.
Di said that Karage had told her that he had told Sok to leave Na alone or that he would kill him. Di said that Karage was angry about the possibility of Na being with another man. She said he told her that he should kill Na and feed her to the dogs so that no one would find out. And, Di testified, Karage told her that he was still interested in Na, but she was no longer interested in him.
Di said that Karage came to a park where Di and her boyfriend were around at about 7: 15 p.m. on the day Na was killed. She said Karage said that he had not seen Na that day and that Na “better not be with” Sok.
During cross-examination, Di changed her testimony to say that Karage came to the park about 6 p.m. The defense contended this was evidence that Karage was innocent since the body was found at 6:30 p.m.
Carolyn Van Winkle, a DNA forensics technologist, testified that Karage was excluded as the source of the DNA identified in the vaginal and anal swabs of the rape kit. Sok also was excluded. Van Winkle said the blood on the car’s carpet was Na’s blood. Van Winkle said that Karage’s clothing tested positive on her presumptive blood test. She admitted she could not say the stains, which were not visible to the eye, were human blood.
Van Winkle also said testing of one hair sample recovered from the Na’s body had Negroid characteristics while two hair samples had Caucasian characteristics. None of the prosecution or defense witnesses knew that Na socialized with persons other than Asians.
Di’s boyfriend, Kam Boonpeng, a friend of Karage for 15 years, testified for the defense that he and Di were in the park at 6 p.m. when he saw Karage, who said he was looking for Na.
During cross-examination, Kam admitted he did not know the exact time of their arrival nor the exact time when they left.
Detective Beck testified he was the one who filed the case against appellant and summarized his reasoning. He said he believed that Na had been killed when she left Minyard's store after 5:30 p.m. He said robbery was not the motive, nor did the evidence reflect she had been raped.
Beck said the Honda was found a short distance from Karage’s house and had blood on the rear bumper and in the trunk. There was very little evidence of blood in the car, indicating it had been cleaned, Beck testified. He added that “a suspect will take care of that property under the assumption that he's going to get that property back."
The defense repeatedly made a hearsay objection when Beck testified about what others had told him. Judge Greene overruled the objections.
On November 14, 1997, Judge Greene convicted Karage of first-degree murder. She sentenced him to life in prison, noting that Na suffered “such a violent death.”
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in July 1999.
On April 5, 2001, a law providing for post-conviction DNA testing went into effect in Texas. A fellow inmate who was a former attorney helped Karage write a motion to request DNA testing of the rape kit. Although Karage had been excluded at the outset of the case, he was assigned an attorney.
The appointed attorney filed a motion seeking DNA testing of the scrapings from Na’s fingernails. Judge Greene initially denied the request.
Karage filed a federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus in June 2001. The petition was dismissed in 2002.
That same year, a fellow prisoner of Karage suggested that the DNA profile be sent to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). By that time, Karage’s trial defense attorney, John Hendrik, had gotten back on the case after getting a letter from Karage. In August 2003, Hendrik met with Judge Greene.
At that point, Judge Greene reversed herself and approved the submission of the DNA profile to CODIS. On August 12, 2003, the profile was associated with Keith Jordan, who had been convicted of the aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl. On the same day that Karage was convicted, Jordan had been convicted in the courtroom of Judge Lana McDaniel just down the hall from the courtroom of Judge Greene. Jordan had been convicted of picking up his 14-year-old victim not far from the Casa Linda Shopping Center.
On September 15, 2003, Jordan was charged with Na’s murder. Meanwhile, a state petition for a writ of habeas corpus had been filed on Karage’s behalf.
On September 15, 2003, Karage was back in court, where Judge Greene ordered him released and recommended that his conviction be vacated.
On September 28, 2005, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted the writ, vacated Karage’s conviction, and the case was dismissed.
On December 22, 2005, Texas Governor Rick Perry pardoned Karage and Keith Turner, who also had been exonerated that year by DNA testing. “I believe that a full pardon for innocence must be supported by strong evidence, such as forensic DNA tests. In both of these cases [referring to Turner and Karage], new DNA evidence proves that these men are innocent. The recommendations of the district attorney, judges, the Dallas County Sheriff, the Dallas Chief of Police and the Board of Pardons and Paroles also were very important factors in my decision.”
Karage was later awarded $158,000 in state compensation plus a monthly annuity of $2,500.
In November 2009, Jordan pled guilty to Na’s murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-29-2011
Last Update Date: 08-03-2026
