The quiet, tree-lined streets of San Francisco’s Westwood Highlands neighborhood were shattered this week by an unimaginable discovery. Inside a handsome cream-colored home on Monterey Boulevard, four members of a family were found dead in what authorities are investigating as a murder-suicide. The tragedy ended the lives of two entrepreneurs, Paula Truong and Thomas “T.R.” Ocheltree, and their two young daughters, Alexandra and Mackenzie, leaving a community heartbroken and searching for answers.
Behind the facade of a normal suburban family lay a story of mounting financial pressure. Public records reveal a years-long struggle with failed businesses, foreclosure, and crushing debt, a stark contrast to the friendly neighbors known for their garden dinners and elaborate holiday decorations. The couple’s entrepreneurial spirit, which once fueled several Bay Area businesses, had been overwhelmed by financial ruin.
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The Unraveling of an Entrepreneurial Dream
Paula Truong and Thomas Ocheltree were, by all accounts, a team. Married in San Francisco in 2006, they were partners in life and in business. Truong, a Vietnam War refugee, was a driven entrepreneur. Together with Ocheltree, an artist and graphic designer, they built a portfolio of ventures. They owned Zentrum Motors, an auto repair shop in West Oakland, for over a decade. Ocheltree also ran his own design firm, creating packaging for wine and spirits, and even designed a wine label named after one of his daughters.
Their most personal venture was Orbit Coffee. Paula Truong launched the company in 2019 with a vision to create a welcoming space and share her heritage through Vietnamese iced coffee, mini doughnuts, and banh mi sandwiches. “I never felt I could take my children to a coffee shop,” she once told a coffee blog, explaining her motivation. At its height, Orbit Coffee had three locations in Oakland and one in San Jose. Around the same time, the couple bought a deli just blocks from their home, transforming it into a boutique liquor store called Starr Spirits.
Court documents show the family of four found dead in a San Francisco home Wednesday afternoon experienced a history of financial hardship. Their house was sold in a foreclosure auction after they fell more than $200,000 behind in their mortgage payments. Records also show the… pic.twitter.com/6W8v8CCPIb
— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) October 10, 2025
But this period of growth reversed sharply. By May 2023, Orbit Coffee had closed all its locations. The liquor store also shuttered, with its former owner noting the couple “raised prices and scared away all the locals.” Their financial troubles were severe and public. The couple took out a $2.24 million mortgage on their home in March 2022 but defaulted on it later that year. The home was sold at a foreclosure auction in October 2024. Additionally, Truong was ordered by a court in April 2025 to pay over $18,000 in credit card debt, and the state had filed tax liens against her company totaling more than $47,000.
A Desperate Final Act
The depth of the family’s crisis became terrifyingly clear in the days leading up to the tragedy. That Monday afternoon, Thomas’s brother, Robert Ocheltree, climbed the brick steps of the home, worried after not hearing from his brother for six days. Paula Truong came to the door but did not invite him in, which he found strange. She explained that Thomas was returning from a golf tournament in Monterey and had lost his phone.
The next evening, Robert received a disturbing text message from Truong. She asked if he would “please help me with (her husband) today? He is not himself, and the girls and I are scared.” The following day, Wednesday, his worry growing, Robert Ocheltree broke into the home by shattering a glass door pane just before 1:30 p.m. He made the grisly discovery and called the police.
Inside, officers found Thomas Ocheltree and the two girls, 12-year-old Alexandra and 9-year-old Mackenzie, on their beds. There were no signs of a struggle, but Thomas’s face was swollen, with what looked like blood around his head. Paula Truong was found hanging in the garage. The family’s trash cans remained on the curb, a quiet, everyday detail that stood in stark contrast to the horror within.
In a statement, a relative placed the blame squarely on the financial collapse, saying, “We are devastated. Thomas Ocheltree and his beautiful daughters are the real victims here. They played no part in this tragedy.” For a family that once seemed to have it all—a beautiful home, a shared passion for business, and two young daughters—the weight of their struggles became too much to bear, leaving a community to mourn a profound and preventable loss.
