GARDEN GROVE, Calif. -- Khanh Nguyen, a South Vietnamese general who briefly gained control of the government in a coup and went on to lead a "government in exile" in California, has died.

Nguyen died Jan. 11 at a San Jose hospital after struggling with diabetes-related health problems, said Chanh Nguyen Huu, who succeeded Nguyen as head of the Garden Grove, Calif.-based Government of Free Vietnam in Exile. He was 86.

In November 1960, Nguyen helped thwart a coup against the U.S.-backed President Ngo Dinh Diem when he mistook the rebels for Viet Cong soldiers and rushed to the president's defense.

Nguyen himself briefly took control of the government in a Jan. 30, 1964, coup, but left Vietnam the following year after being forced out of power by other generals amid growing tension with U.S. military officials. He lived and worked in France for several years before settling in California with his wife and four children in 1977.

-- AP

A Newsday review turned up half a dozen instances of unidentified remains found on LI in the early '90s — a period when the admitted serial killer began committing murders. NewsdayTV’s Shari Einhorn hosts a discussion with Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney and Newsday criminal justice reporter Anthony DeStefano.  Credit: Newsday Studios; News12/ Pool. Photo Credit: Newsday/ James Carbone; Suffolk County District Attorney; North Shore High School

'We treat each of these cases individually' A Newsday review turned up half a dozen instances of unidentified remains found on LI in the early '90s — a period when the admitted serial killer began committing murders. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn hosts a discussion with Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney and Newsday criminal justice reporter Anthony DeStefano.

A Newsday review turned up half a dozen instances of unidentified remains found on LI in the early '90s — a period when the admitted serial killer began committing murders. NewsdayTV’s Shari Einhorn hosts a discussion with Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney and Newsday criminal justice reporter Anthony DeStefano.  Credit: Newsday Studios; News12/ Pool. Photo Credit: Newsday/ James Carbone; Suffolk County District Attorney; North Shore High School

'We treat each of these cases individually' A Newsday review turned up half a dozen instances of unidentified remains found on LI in the early '90s — a period when the admitted serial killer began committing murders. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn hosts a discussion with Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney and Newsday criminal justice reporter Anthony DeStefano.

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