Residents in San Marino have been shocked when a well-respected physician and mom of twins was discovered lifeless within the scorched den of her sprawling property,
Irene Gaw-Lai and her husband, Yoon “Kevin” Lai, had raised their sons within the prosperous, quiet group, driving them to personal faculty and baseball tournaments.
However when a hearth burned within the rear of the household’s house, household and neighbors puzzled: How may a wholesome 56-year-old be killed in a hearth that by no means unfold past a single room?
However her 16-year-old sons feared they knew the reply.
Reeling from the information of their mom’s loss of life, the boys spent that night time with their aunt, saying they didn’t need to be round their father, in keeping with household court docket paperwork.
“They have been afraid,” mentioned Randolph Gaw, the lifeless girl’s cousin and the legal professional now representing Gaw-Lai’s household.
Irene Gaw-Lai and her husband, Yoon “Kevin” Lai, had raised their sons on this San Marino house.
(KTLA)
Publicly, investigators initially mentioned little about Gaw-Lai’s loss of life. Investigators had not but disclosed that she appeared to have been overwhelmed, however her kids have been already harboring suspicions of their very own.
In a court docket submitting, members of the family mentioned the 2 brothers “suspect that Yoon had some involvement within the latest and premature demise of their mom.”
Now, almost six months after Gaw-Lai was discovered lifeless in her house within the 2600 block of Lorain Street, the Los Angeles County District Lawyer has charged their father with one rely every of homicide and arson in an inhabited constructing.
Lai has pleaded not responsible to the costs and has been launched on $2.25 million bail.
“We stay up for defending these false allegations in Courtroom,” mentioned Lai’s legal professional, James Robert Tedford, in an e-mail. Tedford declined to touch upon the accusations.
Household and neighbors mentioned the household appeared to stay a quiet life. But a whole bunch of court docket data reviewed by The Instances, together with sworn declarations, surveillance footage pictures and an post-mortem report describe a strained conjugal relationship and contentious divorce.
A surveillance digital camera inside their San Marino house exhibits Yoon “Kevin” Lai arriving to take their teenage sons to baseball follow.
(Superior Courtroom of California)
When firefighters discovered her corpse, Gaw-Lai had burns on about 60% of her physique, in keeping with a loss of life investigation abstract filed in court docket. Additional investigation discovered that the mom had additionally suffered a damaged nostril, a fractured eye socket, a misplaced tooth, bruising to her knees and different elements of her physique in addition to a number of cuts and bruises. A frying pan and metallic baseball bat with traces of blood on them have been additionally discovered within the house, investigators wrote within the abstract.
After the fireplace, the twins’ aunt was named short-term guardian. Lai has contested that order in court docket.
“She has refused to return the kids to me,” the daddy wrote in a court docket submitting.
In household court docket paperwork, Gaw-Lai’s siblings described the couple’s 22-year marriage as troubled and mentioned that when the spouse filed for divorce in August, she requested a decide to revoke the couple’s premarital settlement. The divorce continuing, in keeping with court docket filings, meant the couple’s actual property properties, believed to be price hundreds of thousands of {dollars} by kin, have been instantly at stake.
An endocrinologist, Gaw-Lai practiced in Arcadia. Lai, in keeping with public data, owns his personal civil engineering and land surveying enterprise but in addition purchased and bought actual property.
The 2 have been married in 2002, however court docket data point out their marriage shortly met challenges. Simply months after they have been married, Gaw-Lai filed for divorce, though they appeared to have reconciled by the point their twins have been born in 2008.
At household gatherings, Lai would maintain to himself until the dialog turned towards enterprise, Gaw mentioned.
“Virtually each time he talked to me, it was virtually all the time about cash,” Gaw mentioned. “Both how a lot folks have been making, how a lot he was paying in taxes or how a lot he didn’t need to pay.”
In August 2024, Gaw-Lai filed for divorce once more, citing irreconcilable variations. In court docket declarations, the couple’s sons mentioned they discovered their father was having an affair after they checked out his telephone.
When asking for a divorce, Gaw-Lai additionally requested that their premarital settlement be nullified. In keeping with Jocelyn Gaw’s declaration, the request got here as a result of her sister had found that a number of properties the couple owned have been solely in her husband’s title and, in keeping with the 2002 premarital settlement, would stay in his possession.
Family mentioned the couple talked about reconciliation, however Gaw-Lai had a number of circumstances earlier than she reconsidered. In keeping with textual content messages reviewed by The Instances and filed in court docket, Gaw-Lai instructed her brother that Lai was “begging me to return again.”
A few of these circumstances included voiding the premarital settlement, placing her title on all properties that had been bought and requiring Lai to go to remedy.
“That appears lots, do you suppose he’ll agree?” her brother, Enrico Gaw Gonzalo, texted her.
“it is dependent upon what’s extra vital to him…” she responded.
Surveillance footage footage from Irene Gaw-Lai’s San Marino house exhibits her sons being picked up for baseball follow by her husband, Yoon Lai. The couple have been within the midst of a contentious divorce.
(Superior Courtroom of California)
The premarital settlement was revoked on Sept. 7, 2024, and Gaw-Lai’s title was additionally added as co-owner of the San Marino house, court docket data say.
Family additionally instructed The Instances that, regardless of her husband’s acquiescence to her requests, Gaw-Lai nonetheless deliberate to go ahead with the divorce. And as time glided by, she instructed kin she was more and more involved about her husband.
“Irene disclosed to others round this time that she was fearful for her security if she was left alone with Kevin,” one court docket submitting reads.
Lai had moved out of the San Marino house however would cease by typically to drive the twins to follow and occasions. Gaw-Lai would ensure that the twins have been round if her husband was stopping by, mentioned Randolph Gaw.
On the morning of Jan. 6, Lai arrived on the Lorain Street house at 7:06 a.m. to take the twins to baseball follow, in keeping with court docket paperwork. About six minutes later, Ring digital camera knowledge submitted in court docket indicated sensors for the house’s “eating” and “backyard” cameras — which pointed to the place Gaw-Lai’s physique was discovered — have been “manually disabled.”
And though Lai instructed his sons that he could be going to work after he dropped them off and could be selecting them up late, Ring digital camera footage exhibits a automotive just like Lai’s returning to the neighborhood at 8:19 a.m., in keeping with paperwork filed in court docket.
At 9:46 a.m., the couple’s next-door neighbor, Connie Morris, referred to as 911 when she noticed smoking coming from the home, in keeping with court docket paperwork.
Irene Gaw-Lai’s physique was discovered after a hearth was sparked in a room within the rear a part of her San Marino house.
(Superior Courtroom of California)
In keeping with a declaration signed by Morris and submitted in court docket, she additionally noticed Lai inside the home. At one level, he opened the kitchen door to talk to her, performing “bewildered” when she talked about the smoke.
In keeping with Morris’ declaration, Lai mentioned his spouse was selecting up the twins from baseball follow, however Morris seen that her automotive was nonetheless on the home.
Gaw, the household’s legal professional, mentioned cameras within the house didn’t seem to seize video of what occurred to Gaw-Lai.
In keeping with a loss of life investigation abstract of Gaw-Lai, the 56-year-old mom had suffered blunt power trauma to her head.
Investigators discovered the fireplace appeared to have began within the den, in keeping with the report. One ignition level was close to Gaw-Lai’s physique, and a second was about six ft away.
Morris declined to speak about particulars of what she noticed that day with a reporter however mentioned she had lived subsequent to the household for years.
The household led a quiet life, she mentioned, and she will’t keep in mind ever listening to loud arguments or police being referred to as to the home.
“That’s why it was so alarming,” she mentioned. “It’s simply stunning.”
