Hmong performer Tou Ger Xiong kidnapped, killed in Colombia

ST. PAUL — Authorities in Medellin, Colombia, have identified the body of a man who was found stabbed multiple times as that of Twin Cities comedian Tou Ger Xiong, who grew up in St. Paul and was known as an advocate for the Hmong community.

News of his death was carried online Tuesday, Dec. 12, by the Medellin-based newspaper El Colombiano, which reported that Tou Ger Xiong’s body was recovered from the Corcovada ravine in the city’s Robledo La Pola neighborhood. He suffered multiple stab wounds and blunt force trauma, according to the newspaper.

A written statement on Tuesday from Eh Xiong, Tou Ger Xiong’s brother, described him as a “cherished member of our family, and the pain of his loss is indescribable. We are cooperating fully with law enforcement agencies who are diligently working to investigate this heinous crime.”

Tou Ger Xiong, 50, of Woodbury, a recipient of the prestigious Bush Fellowship in 2019, was a founder of “Hmong Minnesota Day” at the Minnesota State Fair, which draws Hmong visitors by the dozens to a stage led by Hmong cultural and musical acts.

A consummate storyteller, performer, motivational speaker and emcee, he hosted an online broadcast, “The Tou Ger Xiong Show,” and often reflected on his own experience as a refugee growing up in the St. Paul Public Housing Authority’s low-income Dunedin Hi-Rise. He was a 1996 graduate of Carleton College in Northfield.

Contributed / Bush Foundation

In 2011, he married Andrea Bennett, who would be crowned Mrs. Minnesota International in 2013. The couple filed for divorce in 2019.

El Colombiano reported that Tou Ger Xiong, while on vacation in Medellin, had attempted to meet up with a woman he had met through social media, but was taken captive instead by men who contacted his friends and family by telephone to demand cash. On Monday, authorities confirmed that the kidnappers decided to kill him, possibly in retaliation for trying to escape.

Tou Ger Xiong’s body was later found in a wooded area of the Robledo neighborhood with more than a dozen stab wounds and multiple bruises, apparently caused by a 60-foot fall into the tributary.

The newspaper reported that when authorities went to Tou Ger Xiong’s apartment, they found a woman removing items from it. Authorities attempted to question her but she ran away.

Citing the city’s central office, the newspaper said Tou Ger Xiong’s homicide is the 27th violent death of non-migrant foreigners this year in the Aburrá Valley region, including homicides, suicides, accidents and narcotic overdoses. In the prior month, three other foreign tourists had been killed, including two Americans.

As of early November, kidnappings in the greater area, known as Antioquia, are up 88% year-over-year.

In a statement, Minnesota’s senior U.S. senator, Amy Klobuchar, said: “This is a heartbreaking tragedy. Tou Ger was an incredible person who was constantly working to uplift his community. My office is in contact with Tou Ger’s family and the embassy in Colombia as they work to bring his body back to Minnesota. My thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones during this difficult time.”

On Wednesday morning, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter posted to social media a series of pictures he’d taken over the years with Tou Ger Xiong, a whom he called a campaign ally and personal friend.

“Tou Ger Xiong has been a good friend of our entire Carter clan since the 90s, before either of us was ever considered a public leader,” said Carter, on the platform X, previously known as Twitter. “If you ever saw a guy dancing at one of my campaign events wearing a James Brown (or Elvis) costume & a permanent laugh, you’ve met Tou Ger.”

“He was one of the funniest and most sincere people I’ve ever met,” Carter continued. “A community leader, accomplished storyteller & comedian, the first Hmong rapper, and an absolute karaoke master in any genre of music. His light enlivened everyone around him. I’m not ready to say goodbye, or to even believe this news of his brutal murder- he was too full of life for all of it to be snatched away so suddenly. May God rest your beautiful soul, my brother. Thank you for being you.”

Eh Xiong, in the family’s written statement, said that in lieu of flowers or other gifts, the family hoped to launch a foundation in Tou Ger Xiong’s memory.

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Mary Thao, a longtime friend, mourned for him online on Tuesday, calling him “a great leader and brother. He cannot be replaced.”

As a storyteller, comedian and motivational speaker, Tou Ger Xiong performed all over the U.S. He wrote and performed “River of Dreams” for the 2009 “Great River Gathering: Celebrating Saint Paul on the Mississippi” event.