A North Carolina woman was sentenced to receive the death penalty today for murdering an Orange County fortune teller and her daughter with the intention of robbing the victim, including stealing her expensive jewelry. Tanya Jaime Nelson, 46, Roanoke Rapids, NC, was found guilty by a jury Feb. 16. 2010, of two felony counts of special circumstances murder. The special circumstances include murder of multiple victims, murder during the commission of robbery, and murder by lying in wait. A jury recommended the death penalty for Nelson March 2, 2010.
Nelson's co-defendant, Phillipe Zamora, 55, also of Roanoke Rapids, NC, pleaded guilty April 14, 2009, to two felony counts of first degree murder. Zamora testified in the trial against Nelson and was sentenced to 27 years to life in state prison March 19, 2010.
Victim Ha Smith, 52, was a fortune teller who worked from her home in Westminster. The victim had clients throughout the country.
Smith's 23-year-old daughter, Anita Vo, was a college student. In April 2005, Nelson flew from North Carolina with Zamora to Orange County with the intent to rob the victim, who was known to wear expensive jewelry. Nelson knew the victim because Nelson and Zamora's wife had been clients.
On April 21, 2005, Nelson and Zamora went to Smith's home under the pretense of visiting and having Nelson's fortune told. Nelson formulated a plan to murder Smith and Vo in order to rob the victim. Using knives from the kitchen, Nelson stabbed and murdered Vo as Zamora stabbed and murdered Smith. The defendants left Smith face down on the kitchen floor. Smith bled to death after being stabbed in the head, face, neck, shoulders, and hands. The defendants left Vo on the floor of the laundry room with her head jutting out into the hallway that led to the kitchen. Vo bled to death due to multiple stab wounds to her head, face, and neck.
After murdering the victims, the defendants attempted to wash the bloody kitchen knives and wrap them in plastic bags. Nelson and Zamora ransacked the victims' home and stole personal items including cell phones, purses, jewelry, and credit cards. Nelson and Zamora then drove to Walmart to purchase paint, returned to the victims' home, and poured white paint on Smith and Vo's heads and hands. Zamora covered Vo's face with a black shirt.
On April 22, 2005, the defendants returned to North Carolina. That day, officers from the Westminster Police Department (WPD) discovered the victims after receiving a call requesting a welfare check from a concerned friend, who became alarmed when he did not hear from Vo. WPD began investigating the case.
Nelson returned to Orange County in May 2005 after purchasing plane tickets with the victims' credit cards to go on a shopping spree at South Coast Plaza. On May 30, 2005, Nelson was arrested by detectives from WPD at a Holiday Inn in Santa Ana. At the time of her arrest, Nelson was in possession of the victims' stolen credit cards, identification cards, and designer luggage. Zamora was arrested June 1, 2005, at his home in North Carolina.
At the sentencing today, Smith's older sister, Vo's aunt, gave a victim impact statement telling the court that, "No amount of time will ever heal the pain nor erase the memory of the ingrained and horrific images, nor the silence the gut-wrenching testimony that has been exhibited and addressed in this court. Justice has been served." She also told the court about how loved both victims were, how badly affected her elderly parents are, and how much they will be missed.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Sonia Balleste of the Homicide Unit prosecuted this case.
