CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Day 2 of the jury trial for a woman charged with the 2022 shooting death of her retired Army husband featured testimony from the victim’s brother, a friend discovering the victim’s body nine hours after the shooting, and footage of the defendant pacing through her home with a gun and knife in her hands.
On Jan. 3, 2022, Clarksville Police conducted a welfare check in the 2200 block of Ladd Drive. Upon arrival, they found 38-year-old Sothon In dead from a gunshot wound to the head. Nearby, his wife, 32-year-old Theary Lim, and her two children were on the floor under a blanket. The next day, Theary Lim was arrested and charged with her husband’s murder.
Here are three takeaways from testimony so far.
1. A princess with two faces
Sokhen In, the victim’s brother, testified that in 2013, Sothon met Theary while he was visiting Cambodia; she worked at the hotel where he was staying. Sokhen said that a year later, his brother and Theary married and later moved to California to live with the rest of the In family. While living together in the family home, Sothon even began building a house for Theary back in Cambodia.
“He (Sothon) treated her very well,” Sokhen recalled. “She didn’t have to do chores; she was put on a pedestal. She was treated like a princess.” However, Sokhen said his new sister had a “two-faced” personality, showing kindness to her husband but distancing herself from her in-laws. Around 2020, the couple moved to Clarksville.
Sokhen testified that the last time he spoke to his brother, he learned that Theary planned to go to Cambodia with their two children. According to Sokehn, his brother would not be going with them, and construction on the Cambodian home Sothon had been building for Theary was finished.
Sokhen, who has no children of his own, is now taking care of Sothon and Theary’s children. When asked what they call him, he answered with a smile, “Daddy.” When asked what the children call Sothon, he answered, “First Daddy.”
2. ‘I saw blood on the mattress’
Sambo Un, a friend of Sothon, discovered his body and coordinated calling 911. With the help of Khmer language interpreter Chetra Keo, Un testified he had known Sothon for approximately one year, and they met through online gaming.
Un explained that Theary wanted to make a trip back to Cambodia, and Un had a friend there who could help them get plane tickets at a reasonable price. The friend was able to acquire the tickets, but it was up to Sothon and Theary to reimburse the friend. Theary didn’t put the correct name on the wire transfer, so the money did not go through.
As his friend pressured him for the payment, Un tried contacting Theary and Sothon. On Jan. 3, 2022, after Un called Sothon 31 times, he showed up at the couple’s home, and their toddler-aged son answered the door.
Un walked inside and found Theary lying on the hallway floor with her young daughter under a blanket, in front of their open bedroom door. When Un asked where Sothon was, she sat up and pointed, saying he was inside the room. Un entered the dark bedroom and found Sothon lying on the floor. He called out to Sothon and even shook his foot. “He did not respond,” Un said. “I saw blood on the mattress; I got scared and I ran outside.”
Un called a friend to come to the house and call 911, since he did not speak English well. Un said he tried to ask Theary what happened, but she said she didn’t know and laid back down.
3. Pacing with weapons in hand
The jury was shown surveillance footage from the couple’s living room camera in the hours leading up to Sothon’s death.
- 9:45 a.m.: Sothon returns home from early-morning work, and his wife and children greet him.
- 10:57 a.m.: The family spends time together in the living room.
- 12:16 p.m.: Theary locks the front door.
- 12:39 p.m.: A deafening gunshot is heard, loud enough to startle many of the jurors. Moments later, loud wailing and screaming is heard from the children.
- 12:44-1:44 p.m.: Theary paces through the house, holding a gun in one hand and a large kitchen knife in the other, her young children following her.
- 9:26 p.m.: Sambo Un enters the home, then rushes out.
- 9:30 p.m.: Theary approaches the door, then goes in the direction of the hallway and bedroom.
- 9:42 p.m.: Un’s English-speaking friend enters the home.
- 9:46 p.m.: The first responding officer arrives.
One of the first responding officers, CPD Patrol Sgt. Lisa Fatula, told the jury she found Theary on the floor outside the room, unresponsive. “Her eyes were open, but she was not responding to anything, and there was an individual inside the bedroom who was deceased.”
Theary told police she was experiencing depression and tried to take 30 trazodone pills so she could be with her husband. She was arrested the next day after she was released from the hospital, where she had been placed on suicide watch.
The trial continues Wednesday morning.
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