Police in Las Vegas, Nevada have identified the woman who they say fatally ran over a manicurist on Saturday.
Her name is Krystal Whipple, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. They released an older mugshot and claimed that she killed 53-year-old Nhu “Annie” Nguyen while trying to run out on a bill.
Whipple entered Nguyen’s business for a manicure, and tried to pay with a fraudulent credit card, according to police Lt. Ray Spencer. The payment didn’t go through, and she claimed she would get money from her car. She left the premises, but the owners–Nguyen and her husband–noticed that she was trying to escape, Spencer said.
The couple ran out trying to stop the driver, but Whipple ran Nguyen over with her car, Spencer said. The suspect allegedly left the scene. Nguyen died at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, police said.
“I tried to hold the car back, but I’m not Superman,” Ngyuen’s husband Sonny Chung told The Las Vegas Review-Journal in a Sunday report. “She ran off for $35 and killed my wife — $35 to run my wife over.”
He said they weren’t technically married, but lived together and ran their salon for almost 13 years.
Cops said Sunday that they found the vehicle, a recent-model Chevrolet Camaro, at a local apartment complex, but no one was inside and the driver wasn’t immediately identified, according to the Review-Journal. The car, a rental, was reported stolen three weeks before, and cops believe that the person who originally rent it wasn’t the suspect, Spencer said.
A GoFundMe by Nguyen’s family sought $10,000 to cover funeral expenses, and collected over $25,000 as of Friday morning. She is survived by Chung, three daughters, and two grandchildren.
[Mugshot via Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department]