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Tony Tung, the 52-year-old resident of Manhattan was charged with the murder of 59-year-old Verizon Wireless software engineer, Robert Cantor, who was in an extramarital affair with his ex-wife Sophie Menuet. While Tung is serving his life sentence at the New Jersey State Prison, questions surrounding his conviction remain.
Tony Tung was tried on a heavily circumstantial case as neither physical nor DNA evidence that tied him to the murder was recovered from the Elm Avenue crime scene. On the same note, he had entered Cantor's house thrice, spied on him and his ex-wife's emails, and threatened to put their lives in danger.
The upcoming Dateline NBC episode titled The Room Downstairs offers viewers Tung's take on his conviction as it airs on January 4, 2024, at 10 p.m. EST.
Why was Sui Kam Tony Tung arrested?
Sui Kam Tung's ex-wife Sophie Menuet and the Teaneck resident Robert Cantor were involved in an extramarital affair while their marriage was in shambles. Menuet had just moved out of their Manhattan home with her three children on March 5, 2011, when Cantor's home was found ablaze.
Robert Cantor was shot in the head with a .380 calibre handgun, doused with grain alcohol and set ablaze in his basement bedroom thereby reducing him to an unrecognizable form. The crime scene that was mistaken to be an accidental home fire found Tung in the middle of it all even though he denied his involvement.
The case that was built around Sui Kam Tung's trial was heavily circumstantial and the defence argued that the prosecution had failed to look into other suspects. The investigators allegedly never found any physical or DNA evidence at the crime scene which belonged to Tony Tung and neither was a murder weapon ever recovered.
Let us take a look at the evidence that helped prosecutors build a case against Tony Tung.
Tony Tung was tried for murder, aggravated arson, evidence tampering, and stalking among other charges
Surveillance footage
In his statement during his interrogation, Tony Tung alleged that he was with his children at his home on the night of March 6. He mentioned stepping out to buy a beer at 1 a.m. but the surveillance footage showed him entering his home around 10:10 p.m. He was last spotted outside at 10:40 p.m., according to court documents.
Computer Evidence
Tung's online activities were non-existent for a long period on the night of March 6. He later used software to delete all his data from his computer hard drive the same night which had allegedly run for several hours. The investigators, however, collected evidence of searches for a .380 calibre handgun and magazine.
Installation of Spyware
According to Sophie Menuet's testimony against Tung, he had installed a keylogger software to spy on Cantor and Menuet's mail conversations. Menuet mentioned having set up a separate mail account to exchange mail with Cantor.
Eerily, she had received a Valentine's Day card from Tung with words picked up from emails between Cantor and her, according to CBS News. The next day, Cantor received anonymous emails. Sophie discovered spyware installed on her system when she found two of Cantor's emails forwarded to Tung's mail account.
Possession of weapons
Tony Tung owned a computer repair store on Manhattan's Upper West Side and was familiar with handguns since Menuet and Tung's marriage. She had allegedly insisted he get rid of his handgun upon the birth of their first child.
However, Menuet mentioned in her testimony that she had found Tony taking out $2,000 from their savings to purchase the firearm which he later showed her to threaten her and Cantor with danger.
Breaking into Robert Cantor's Teaneck apartment
Tony Tung had entered Robert Cantor's house to confront him on three separate occasions. All of his visits were in the ten months preceding his murder. On one of his visits, Tung demanded to know where Robert and Sophie had had s*x. Cantor's body was unsurprisingly found reduced to ashes in the same basement bedroom.
Tony Tung has been sentenced to life in prison after two trials and is presently incarcerated at the New Jersey State Prison.
