Family of Thi Kim Tran found dead in a burnt-out car demand justice (2025)

Friends and family members have broken their silence after a Sydney mother was kidnapped and found dead in a burnt-out car.

Thi Kim Tran was abducted on Thursday night by five men who forced her to strip naked in her driveway before she was then taken away at gunpoint in a waiting SUV.

In an online post Jenny Mai said she had been 'left with grief' over what happened to Ms Tran, who moved to Australia from Vietnam more than 10 years ago, and that 'if one day your best friend leaves you forever, you will cry'.

A relative on Sunday implored Australian authorities to find Ms Tran's killers and to 'quickly return justice'.

The mother-of-two had only recently celebrated her 45th birthday. On Monday several people were seen going into the family's Bankstown home including an elderly woman and two younger Asian women.

On the night Ms Tran was kidnapped, the perpetrators also assaulted her eight-year-old son with a baseball bat, which required him to be rushed to hospital and placed in an induced coma.

Ms Tran's body was found in the burned shell of an SUV in the nearby suburb of Beverly Hills, about 6km away.

It is understood Ms Tran does not have any direct links to Sydney's drug gangs, but police are investigating whether she was associated with anyone who is connected.

NSW Opposition police spokesman Paul Toole hit out at Premier Chris Minns and Police Minister Yasmin Catley who are yet to speak out about the shocking crime.

'I can't believe neither the government, nor the Police Minister, have gone out and spoken on this to ensure the community of Bankstown know they are safe,' Mr Toole told The Daily Telegraph.

'Everybody in that area would be living in fear thinking they could be the next victims of these thugs.'

Ms Tran had been forced from her home at gunpoint into a waiting black SUV, which sped off while some of the gang members trailed behind in a white sedan.

Her abduction was reported to officers at Bankstown Police Station about 10.30pm.

Emergency services were called to Welfare Avenue in the neighbouring suburb of Beverly Hills about an hour later amid reports a dark SUV had been torched in the street.

After extinguishing the blaze, authorities discovered Ms Tran's remains inside the wreckage.

Police have managed to contact Ms Tran's husband, who had been away on business interstate.

He is understood to have since reunited with their two sons in hospital.

The eight-year-old child remains in intensive care with serious head trauma, though it's understood he is in a stable condition.

His 15-year-old brother had minor injuries.

A manhunt is underway for Ms Tran's killers along with the person who ordered it.

There is no suggestion Ms Tran was involved in any criminality - or that her husband was in any way involved in her abduction or execution, nor the reasons behind it.

However, detectives believe it was a targeted hit and suspect Ms Tran was marked for death after someone close to her ripped off a drug-manufacturing gang.

The Sydney Morning Heraldreported detectives had already managed to trace the torched car and discovered it had been reported stolen from inner Sydney earlier this year.

Investigators believe the car had been stolen by a gang of thieves that provides vehicles known as 'kill cars' to be used in underworld drive-by shootings and executions.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described it as a 'horrific event'.

While acting NSW Premier Prue Car said on Sunday the city was 'shaken'.

'Our thoughts are with the young children affected and the loved ones of the woman,' she said.

'The level of violence involved, particularly against children, is confronting and completely unacceptable.'

Chris MinnsSydney

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