Police ID suspect in killing of Las Vegas salon owner over unpaid bill

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Jan. 4, 2019 / 4:07 AM GMT

By Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — A 21-year-old Las Vegas woman was being sought Thursday for allegedly using a stolen car to run over and kill a Las Vegas nail salon owner who chased her for failing to pay for a $35 manicure, police said.

Las Vegas police released an April 2018 jailhouse photo of the suspect, Krystal Whipple, along with an internet plea for information and storefront security video footage of the Saturday afternoon incident.

The video shows Ngoc Q. Nguyen, 51, of Garden Grove, California, jumping on the front of a black convertible sedan before being dragged beneath the car as it speeds away.

Homicide Lt. Ray Spencer said in the video that Whipple tried to pay for her manicure with what Spencer called a fraudulent credit card and told Nguyen and her husband that she was going to her car to get cash before beginning to drive away.

The husband, who is not named, can be seen holding on the vehicle from behind.

Police said the car, a rental that had been stolen last month, was found abandoned at a nearby apartment complex.

Whipple was convicted in 2017 in Las Vegas of attempted possession of a stolen vehicle, according to Clark County District Court records. She was sentenced to four months in jail last year for violating probation in that case.

An attorney who represented Whipple in the case did not immediately respond Thursday to messages.