Minh Nguyen, who’s claimed to be the co-founder of contact management and social networking startup Plaxo (along with Sean Parker and others), has been charged with first-degree murder, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.
DCInno and NBC Washington both reported the victim’s identity as Corey Mattison, who recently married Nguyen’s ex-wife.
The sheriff’s office says Nguyen entered his ex-wife’s home in Ashburn, Virginia on Thursday night, where he allegedly shot and killed Mattison. Although two children were home at the time, and Nguyen’s ex-wife and another child returned home during the shooting, no one else was injured.
Besides listing himself as a co-founder of Plaxo (we also identified him as as co-founder when the company was acquired by Comcast in 2008), Nguyen’s LinkedIn profile describes him as a venture advisor at TandemNSI (an organization that connects entrepreneurs with government agencies), founder and chairman at startup Syllabuster (which appears to be defunct), and founding CEO at app creation platform App Press. It says his career in tech goes back to working at AOL (which now owns TechCrunch) during the early 1990s.
The sheriff’s office says that the investigation is continuing, and that Nguyen is currently in custody. I’ve reached out to confirm the victim’s identity and determine if Nguyen has hired an attorney. I’ll update this post if I hear back.
Update: The sheriff’s office confirmed that Mattison is the victim.
Update 2: John McCrea, who was vice president of marketing for Plaxo, writes that Nguyen did not co-found or work at the company. A new DC Inno story says something similar, citing anonymous sources who Nguyen “would have worked closely with if he had been” a co-founder. I’ve updated the headline and article to reflect the fact that Nguyen’s co-founder status is disputed.
