Arlington restaurant owner killed by man who traveled from Houston, police say
ARLINGTON, Texas - Police have announced an arrest in the brutal murder of a beloved Arlington Vietnamese restaurant owner last December.
The accused killer was captured in Houston. Police say he was just out of prison for robbing someone in a similar fashion. And with this crime, it took nearly a month to unravel a cover-up involving the rented vehicle he was driving and a license plate switch up.
35-year-old Fernando Taylor now sits in a Houston jail awaiting extradition. He’s charged with the murder of 56-year-old Vietnamese restaurant owner Tho Tieu.
Police say on the morning of Dec. 29, Taylor followed Tieu and then ambushed her as she got out of her vehicle at her New York Avene business in Arlington, Pho Son Nam Vietnamese Restaurant.
Police say Taylor snatched Tieu’s purse. Then, she fell during a struggle and Taylor drove over her, killing her before he took off.
"Based on our investigation, we believe Taylor followed the victim for at least an hour that morning, the morning of the murder," explained Arlington Police Chief Al Jones. "While it’s unclear, it is clear he intended to rob her. We still don’t know why he targeted that victim."
Investigators say surveillance video from the Restaurant Depot in East Fort Worth, where Mrs. Tieu went shopping before the murder, showed Taylor in a white Dodge Durango parked near her. That same vehicle was captured by a camera leaving the murder scene.
"He came from Houston the day of, and he found his way to the city of Arlington," Jones said. "And he started following this woman around."
After following a trail of evidence, investigators determined the Durango was registered in Louisiana and was rented in Houston by an associate of Taylor.
Police say Taylor borrowed the vehicle, drove it to North Texas, then found an identical Durango and stole its license plate, making the SUV appear to be Texas registered.
Featured
Search continues for man who followed, killed Arlington restaurant owner
FOX 4 is learning more about the 56-year-old victim whose family is trying to make sense of a brutal attack. Police believe someone was following her before she was killed.
Police say after the murder, Taylor removed the stolen plate and drove the borrowed Durango back to Houston.
One of Tieu’s daughters, Jennifer, spoke to FOX 4 after she was killed.
"She's the most caring, nurturing, selfless person," she said. "So it just didn't make sense that that would happen or anything along those lines would happen to her."
Police say Taylor had just been released from prison eight days before the Arlington murder. He was arrested in 2019 with five others for a similar crime: stalking a victim before robbing them. It appears he had experience switching license plates to avoid police detection.
The arrest affidavit states, "Taylor had been released from federal custody for this sentence on Dec. 21, 2023, and also had a lengthy criminal history, including displaying a false or fictitious license plate."
RELATED: Arlington police announce arrests in two brutal murders
"I want to be clear as a community, we are not going to accept or tolerate this kind of activity in our city," Jones said.
Police are hoping to ask Taylor why he chose to target Tieu. They're hoping to shed light on that once he's extradited to back Tarrant County and undergoes questioning.