Thi Kim Tran: Tributes flow for Bankstown mother kidnapped and found dead in burnt out car

As tributes flow for Thi Kim Tran, police probe threats made to associates of the Bankstown mum before she was kidnapped and found dead in a burnt out car.

Still from CCTV showing men entering the Bankstown home of Thi Kim Tran, who was kidnapped before her body was found n the back of a burnt out SUV in the nearby suburb of Beverly Hills. Picture: Supplied

• Government silence criticised after horrific murder

Threats made prior to a woman being kidnapped from her Bankstown home and murdered are being investigated by police, as they continue to hunt those responsible for the horrific attack.

The murder of Thi Kim Tran, 45, has shocked Sydney and sparked a major response from NSW Police, with the launching of Strike Force Bushfield involving specialist detectives from several squads at the State Crime Command.

A key line of inquiry for detectives are threats made to associates of Ms Tran in the lead up to her murder.

Friends and family of Ms Tran have shared tributes following her death, as an eight-year-old boy who was hit over the head with a baseball bat during the home invasion remains fighting for life in hospital.

This Kim Tran, 45, was kidnapped from her Bankstown home before her body was found burnt in the back of a car in Beverly Hills. Photo: Facebook

Police and Forensics are at the home in Bankstown. Picture: Gaye Gerard / NewsWire

Jenny Mai told of her heartache at the death of her “best friend” Ms Tran, saying she had been “left with grief”.

“If one day your best friend leaves you forever, you will cry,” Ms Mai wrote on Facebook.

Police sources said while Ms Tran had no criminal antecedents or known involvement in organised crime, links of her associates to drugs – including supply and potentially the theft or “rip” of imports – have been central to work done so far by Strike Force Bushfield investigators.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal some of Ms Tran’s associates had been threatened by rival groups prior to the shocking attack.

Identifying the source of those threats is a priority for police, with the grim possibility remaining, that the murder of innocent Ms Tran was intended to send a message.

Also key to police investigations will be determining the nationality of the masked men who, armed with guns and a baseball bat, broke into Ms Tran’s home about 10.30pm on Thursday and dragged her outside.

After being stripped naked Ms Tran was shoved into the middle rear seat of a waiting SUV, in between two of her attackers.

The burnt out car being removed from Welfare street in Beverly Hills. Picture: Gaye Gerard / NewsWire

A loved one of Thi Kim Tran, who was kidnapped and put in the back of a car before her body was found, arrive at her home in Bankstown. Picture: Tom Parrish

Friends and family of Thi Kim Tran at the home. Photo: Tom Parrish

At some point during the home invasion the men inexplicably turned their attention to a small eight-year-old boy who was inside the home, and hit him over the head with a baseball bat.

He suffered serious injuries and spent the long weekend in an induced coma in hospital.

As the commotion unfolded, an older child who was also in the home ran out to see the young boy lying unconscious and Ms Tran being dragged away.

At 11.30pm, roughly an hour after she was kidnapped, fire crews were called to Welfare Ave in Beverly Hills – about a 10 minute drive from the Bankstown home – where they found the SUV alight and Ms Tran’s body inside.

NSW Police warned in an interview with The Daily Telegraph last year that they had seen an increase in violent crimes “where most of the alleged victims and perpetrators were of Asian background”.

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Originally published as Thi Kim Tran: Tributes flow for Bankstown mother kidnapped and found dead in burnt out car