Tanya Jaime Nelson, 46, of Roanoke
Rapids, NC, was given death for the murder of two Asian women,
fortune teller Ha Smith and her daughter Anita Vo.
The case caused quite a stir when the
heads and hands of the victims were found coated in white paint. The
details are so bizarre the case was featured in season 4 of Wicked
Attraction. (Watch it below)
From OCWeekly:
Ha Jade Smith, 52, and her daughter
Anita Nhi Vo, a 23-year-old college student, were found dead in Mrs.
Smith's Little Saigon home on April 22, 2005. They died of hideous
multiple stab wounds to their faces and necks. Both also had cuts on
their hands, suggesting that they had attempted to resist their
attacks. What most baffled officers was why nearly a gallon of white
paint had been poured over their heads and hands.
"I haven't come across anybody
else who has had a case in which the victim's heads and hands were
covered in paint," police Det. Tim Vu said at the time. "I've
had calls from colleagues in other departments, too. They feel kind
of fascinated by that. It's just not something that happens. . . .
This is by far the most bizarre thing I've seen."
"Many theories have been put
forward to attempt to the explain the significance of the paint,"
New Criminologist, an online journal of criminology professionals,
posted two weeks after the crime. "White is traditionally worn
at Vietnamese funerals, the color is symbolic of mourning and rites
of passage. Actors in traditional Vietnamese theater painted their
faces white for performances, or maybe an unhappy client used paint
to ward off evil spirits."
As New Criminologist pointed out, Smith
was a respected figure among the 30,000 Vietnamese who live in the
area and she took in clients from as far away as New York, "desperate
for her words of wisdom on love, business, spell-casting and what the
future held." Most clients would have gone to Smith's home and
paid up to $15,000 for her services in cash.
Police discovered Smith's home had been
ransacked. "[D]rawers had been turned out, furniture had been
tipped over, and papers were scattered throughout the location,"
according to New Criminologist. "However, hidden stockpiles of
money and jewelery were undiscovered and untouched."
She'd been victimized before, having
been tied up and robbed of $372,000 in jewelry and money in 2001.
She'd apparently changed the locks and placed iron bars over the
windows of her home. But police investigating the murder scene saw no
signs of forced entry, the bars were in place, and all the doors were
locked. That would indicate the killer(s) knew the victims, allowing
them inside. Which, despite the bizarre white paint, prompted this
from New Criminologist: "Another possibility could be that the
paint is simply a red-herring; implying a cultural significance to
what essentially could be a straight forward murder-robbery."
That's exactly what the jury found,
that Tanya Jaime Nelson, 45, of Roanoke Rapids, N.C., killed the
mother and daughter to rob the fortune teller and get her hands on
Smith's expensive jewelry. The exact verdict was guilty of
first-degree murder with special circumstances including murder of
multiple victims, murder during the commission of robbery, and murder
by lying in wait.
UPDATE: Nelson's formal sentencing is
scheduled for March 26.
Her co-defendant, Phillipe Zamora, 55,
also of Roanoke Rapids, pleaded guilty April 14, 2009, to two felony
counts of first degree murder.
She just isn't very smart. Perhaps more time thinking about how to earn a living honestly would do her better. Did her co-defendant get death as well? I can't see what made her more guilty than him. And again, what is cheaper? Death penalty or LWOP? Oh yea...LWOP
ReplyDeleteYour very right, Neva. Her co-conspirators did not receive death sentences. They got LWOP. Odd huh? That is a big part of the problem with the DP. Juries and prosecution in this country pick and choose who gets it based on their feelings that day. There are precedents to who is eligible for the DP but who actually will receive it is anyone's guess.
ReplyDelete