Trial Draws Near One Year After Nail Salon Murder

It was one year ago today the lifeless body of An-Hnan “Annie” Thi Huynh was found on the floor of the bathroom inside .

Huynh, who was also know to her customers as Kim, owned and operated the popular nail salon in the Pike Place Shopping Center on Second Street Pike.

Thuy Van “Tony” Vo, 31, of Philadelphia, stands accused of strangling Huynh shortly after sunrise on Monday November 8, 2010. Vo faces several charges stemming from Huynh's death, including criminal homicide.

Earlier this year, the Bucks County Courier Times reported the prosecution will not be seeking the death penalty for Vo. However, Vo could face life in prison if he is convicted of first-degree murder following his trial, which is set to begin early next month.

During Vo's preliminary hearing, Huynh’s mother Tai Luu testified that Vo helped Huynh, who only spoke a limited amount English, take care of banking and scheduling of doctors appointments for her and her six-year-old son Jason.

District Attorney David Heckler said the two had been arguing in the days leading up to Huynh's death.

According to documents filed in the case, the prosecution will argue that Vo murdered Huynh over thousands of dollars he allegedly stole from the nail salon’s bank account as well as some interpersonal problems the two were said to be having at the time of her death. 

Vo was arrested by police several days after Huynh's body was discovered.

Authorities said the trial has been postponed several times due to issues with obtaining DNA results from the State Police lab and problems translating voice recordings between Huynh and Vo from Vietnamese to English.

“It’s not that unusual for a murder case to take this long to get to trial,” Upper Southampton Police Chief Ron MacPherson said in an interview Monday.

Court documents detail the following chain of events on November 8, 2010: Employees of the nail salon arrived for work around 9 a.m. They saw Huynh’s belongings, but the 30-year-old business owner was nowhere to be found. After checking the bathroom door, which was locked, they called police. The first arriving officer found Huynh dead on the bathroom floor.

At the preliminary hearing, Upper Southampton Police Department Detective Craig Rudisill testified that when police broke the news of Huynh’s death several employees of the salon fell to the ground in shock, but Vo showed no emotion.

According to police, in the days following Huynh's death Vo tried to kill himself by ingesting half a bottle of a prescription antihistamine. 

“He told me he would die if she died,” said Upper Southampton Police Detective James Schirmer at Vo's preliminary hearing.

The trial is scheduled to begin Monday, December 5 at the Bucks County Courthouse in Doylestown.