A man and a woman connected to the fatal beating of a man in California have been detained in Houston.
The Anaheim Police Department announced the arrests on Wednesday.
Brittany Vidal, 37, was arrested on September 2 and charged with accessory to murder. Christopher Do, 35, was arrested the next day and charged with murder. Anaheim police claimed the Houston Police Department cooperated in the arrests.
The case arises from a June 15 incident in which 65-year-old Tien Luu was taken to a hospital in Garden Grove, California, with injuries consistent with a violent beating. He had arrived in a blue Mercedes-Benz automobile, driven by a man wearing a black mask.
Luu was pronounced dead on June 20, and the cause of death was blunt force injuries to the head.
Investigators used data from Luu’s smartphone to track down an acquaintance who knew a man who drove a blue sedan identical to the one spotted at the hospital. Although that man did not drive the blue sedan, he assisted officials in locating Vidal and Do, who were in a relationship..
Another associate informed investigators that Luu was accused of flirting with Vidal in front of Do at a “slap house,” a drug-dealing place. The day following the alleged flirting, prosecutors claim Do came to the house with a baseball bat and beat Luu in the head eight times.
Do subsequently returned the automobile to its owner after transporting Luu to the hospital, warning him not to drive it because of the connection to the beating, authorities said.
Cellphone data eventually led Vidal to the Houston region. She and Do were discovered at an apartment in Houston’s 3000 block of Summer Street.
On September 9, Do and Vidal were extradited to California to face charges in Luu’s death. They are both being jailed without bail in the Orange County Jail.
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