After escaping Cambodia's Killing Fields, Ted Ngoy built a donut empire in California. Then he lost it all, and disappeared. This week we're searching for the Donut King and his legacy. (This is part one of a two-part series. The second part comes out on Friday.)

Additional info:

• Chad Phuong's Cambodian-Texas Battambong BBQ (Southern California)
• Dary and Sreyrot Chan's gourmet donut shop Sweet Retreat (Long Beach, CA)
• Greg Nichols' piece, "Dunkin and the Donut King" (California Sunday Magazine)
• Frank Shyong's piece, "In Cambodia Town, moving beyond the ‘killing fields’ and into success" (The Los Angeles Times)

This episode originally aired on April 23, 2018, and was produced by Anne Saini and Dan Pashman, with editing by Peter Clowney. The Sporkful team now includes Emma Morgenstern, Andres O’Hara, Jared O’Connell, Nora Ritchie, and Ella Barnes. Publishing by Shantel Holder and transcription by Emily Nguyen.

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.