A mother of three in Las Vegas was killed while trying to stop a customer from walking out without paying for a $35 manicure, police and her heartbroken partner said.
Nhu Nguyen, a 53-year-old mother and grandmother of two, was working at Crystal Nails & Spa on West Flamingo Road last Saturday afternoon, when a female customer decided she was going to skip her bill after her credit card was repeatedly declined, Nguyen’s boyfriend of 13 years told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The unidentified customer then told Nguyen she was going to get some cash from her car, but instead drove off in a black, newer-model Chevrolet Camaro — a rental car that police said was reported stolen about three weeks earlier.
Nguyen tried grabbing onto the car’s shattered rear window, but the customer was undeterred — dragging the woman through the lot before speeding away, according to her boyfriend, Sonny Chung, who is also co-manager of the salon.
“My wife ran out and tried to stop her, and then she rolled forward,” Chung, who was never legally married to Nguyen, told the newspaper. “She kept pushing the gas, and my wife fell off, and she kept pushing more, and she dragged her from here to over there [roughly 50 feet away].”
Despite his best efforts, Chung was unable to reach Nguyen, or slow down the fleeing Camaro, he said.
“I tried to hold the car back, but I am not Superman,” he told the newspaper. “She ran off for $35 and killed my wife — $35 to run my wife over.”
Nguyen was later taken to University Medical Center, where she died from injuries she sustained during the incident, police said.
The Camaro, meanwhile, was found abandoned later Saturday at a nearby apartment complex. Investigators were still trying to identify the suspect, who was described as a white woman in her 20s.
Flowers, candles and a photograph of Nguyen were placed by relatives and friends outside the salon, which will be closed “until further notice,” according to a sign on the door.
Chung said Nguyen rarely took a minute to rest and spent the bulk of the past decade working without days off at the salon, where she often stayed well past closing time to clean up after starting her day more than 12 hours earlier.
“She was a hard worker,” Chung said. “That’s all she does. She’s a work addict … She worked every day — every day — seven days a week.”
Messages seeking comment from Las Vegas police were not immediately returned Monday.
A man who witnessed the entire incident unfold said it haunted him during his sleep.
“I dreamt that she was close to me on the car, and I was trying to reach out to her, and the car took her away,” the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told KSNV. “It was traumatizing. It was hard. She put her life in someone’s hands and you can’t do that. It’s not her fault, but unfortunately she had her life taken away from her.”
An employee at another store in the strip mall said Nguyen was known as a dedicated mother.
“That does not make sense at all,” Ruri Lee told the station. “She was so nice, so nice I could tell she was a strong mother.”
Police ask anyone with information about the incident to call (702) 828-3521.