Krystal Whipple, 21, suspected of killing Las Vegas manicurist Annie Nguyen while fleeing US$35 bill, is captured
- Police and FBI captured Krystal Whipple in Phoenix, two weeks after Annie Nguyen was crushed to death by a stolen car
- Whipple’s family had urged her to surrender
Police say a 21-year-old woman sought for almost two weeks after allegedly skipping out on a US$35 manicure and using a stolen car to run over and kill a manicurist who chased her in Las Vegas has been arrested in Arizona.
Las Vegas police say Krystal Whipple was arrested Friday in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale by a team of fugitive hunters involving Phoenix-area police, county investigators and FBI agents.
Whipple was identified as the customer-turned-assailant seen on video leaving a nail salon on December 29 and driving a black sedan that allegedly ran over 51-year-old Nhu “Annie” Ngoc Quynh Nguyen.
Police say Whipple tried to pay with a fraudulent credit card and told Nguyen that she was going to her car to get cash before killing her as she drove away.
Las Vegas police name suspect in killing of manicurist, releasing video of horror incident
In an interview that aired Monday on ABC’s Good Morning America, Whipple’s mother and grandmother had urged her to surrender.
Mother Sharon Whipple apologised to the victim’s family and hoped they could eventually forgive her daughter.
Police say the car used in the car park killing had been stolen last month. It was found abandoned at a nearby apartment complex.
Nguyen died of blunt force injuries, the Clark County coroner’s office told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Her death was ruled a homicide.
“I tried to hold the car back, but I’m not Superman,” Nguyen’s husband, Sonny Chung, told the Review-Journal.
Customer runs over and kills Las Vegas salon worker Annie Nguyen after failing to pay for US$35 manicure
“She ran off for US$35 and killed my wife – US$35 to run my wife over.”
A fundraising page created by relatives to help defray funeral costs describes Nguyen as an “extremely hard working” woman and “dutiful mother who always put her children first”.
Her job took her across the United States, the page said, and Nguyen often worked 12-hour days, seven days a week so she could pay for her daughters to attend college.
