The twists and turns in the killing of a newlywed continue days after her alleged killer was arrested.
On April 5, when Monica Nguyen was gunned down in front of her home just three days after her wedding, police had little to go on.
This week, her mother breathed a sigh of relief after a 14-year-old was charged with her murder. Now, Eyewitness News has learned that the break in the case came after a street racing crash that left two of the murder suspect’s friends dead.
On April 25, two cars were racing along Fuqua in the early morning hours. One car flipped, killing two teens inside. The two teens in the other car survived. But what investigators didn’t know at the time was that the crash would help solve Nguyen’s murder.
Jaiver Hunter and his friend Savyion Farley died in the crash.
But sometime between the April 5 murder and the crash, Hunter told his aunt Ivory Brown that there had been a shooting in Houston’s Chinatown, and that his friends were involved.
“He just told me what had happened,” recalled Brown.
She said Hunter told her about the shooting because he stopped hanging out with the alleged shooter a few weeks prior to his death and she had asked him why.
Hunter then described how he, Farley, and two other teens were driving around Chinatown on April 5. At some point, Hunter said that the fourth teen got out of the car, and he heard shots a few moments later.
“They heard bang, bang and I said, ‘Javier, when you heard bang, bang, when you heard the shots, you should have run,'” recalled Brown.
Brown said she also encouraged her nephew to go to the police, but he refused.
“I said if this happened to you, or anybody in my family, I would want closure too. They need that. He said no, they need to turn themselves in.”
Then, the April 25 crash occurred.
Of the two surviving teens, one was arrested and charged with alleged crimes related to the crash. Sometime after that, Houston police were tipped off that the group was involved in the April 5 robbery and shooting of Nguyen.
Acting on that tip, investigators found Brown. She says she has cooperated with investigators ever since, and has tried to help them locate the teenagers involved.
Much to Brown’s relief, the arrest of the 14-year-old boy occurred this week.
“I’m so glad,” said Brown. “I tried to convince Javier, but you know how kids don’t like to snitch.”
The teenager charged with Nguyen’s death is currently in juvenile custody.
One of the surviving teens of the street racing crash also remains in custody.
His parents refused to comment Wednesday.
