cambodian-american ly sivhong is telling an engrossed audience a tragic , but familiar , story .
ly remained in the capital with her father and four other siblings , three of whom would succumb to starvation and disease in the following years , before her father was shot to death before her eyes in 1979 .
but about 20,000 people died from execution , starvation or exhaustion during this exodus at gunpoint , according to war crimes prosecutors .