Who is Krystal Whipple? Woman who ran over and killed manicurist over $35 bill given 10 to 25 years in prison
A Las Vegas woman accused of driving over and killing a nail salon manager was sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Krystal Whipple killed the manager with a vehicle while trying to skip out on a $35 manicure.
According to court records, Whipple was sentenced to 10 to 25 years by Clark County District Court Judge Tierra Jones. Her plea allowed her to avoid trial on felony murder, burglary, robbery and stolen vehicle charges, AP reports.
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In December 2018, the then-21-year-old Whipple was accused of skipping out on a $35 nail bill and attempting to flee before she allegedly ran over and killed Nhu 'Annie' Nguyen at a nail salon near Flamingo Road and Decatur Boulevard.
Police said Whipple stopped by the salon to get a manicure and then attempted to pay with a fraudulent credit card. When the credit card payment didn't go through she said she would get cash from her black 2017 Chevrolet Camaro, but instead started to drive away.
Then Nguyen and her boyfriend followed Whipple into the parking lot, where Nguyen was struck and dragged by a black Chevrolet Camaro driven by Whipple. According to reports, police later said the car had been stolen from a rental agency. According to an AP report, authorities said Whipple fled to Boulder City and then Los Angeles before surrendering to police in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona, almost two weeks after Nguyen’s death.
In the surveillance video released by police, Nguyen and her partner are seen running out of the salon after Whipple. Nguyen was seen running in front of Whipple’s vehicle before the suspect accelerates and runs over Nguyen, dragging her 50 feet before escaping the parking lot, police said previously.
"This event should not have happened over a bill at a nail salon," Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Officer Larry Hadfield had reportedly said at the time of the killing. "Over a bill in a nail salon, it is nothing to kill someone for."
Who was Nhu Nguyen?
Nhu 'Annie' Ngoc Nguyen was a 51-year-old mother of three from Garden Grove, California. A "dutiful mother who always put her children first before herself", Nguyen was a single mother of three girls working all seven days a week to support her family. She had worked all over the country from Florida, Michigan, Arizona, etc. till her death in Las Vegas.
A GoFundMe page set up for her family says, "She had been constantly putting in 12-14 hrs a day, 7 days a week to send her daughters to college and to support her mother, siblings, and grandchildren". The obituary writes how she was a devoted and beloved family member dedicating her all to her loved ones. "She worked endlessly to the point where she would skip eating until after hours so they would not have to work as hard as she did. She would never buy anything for herself. Any gifts that she received would be passed to her daughters, rather than keeping it for herself. She never asked for anything in return, besides more grandchildren. Every penny that she had accumulated always went towards her family," the page reads.