Tanya Jaime Nelson went to a fortune teller in California and when her fortune did not come true she would murder the woman and her daughter. According to court documents Nelson was in California and went to the fortune teller to find out if her business would succeed if she relocated her business from North Carolina to California so she did and the business failed so she wanted revenge.
Tanya Jaime Nelson 2021 Information
| Inmate Name | NELSON, TANYA JAIME |
| CDCR Number | WA4501 |
| Age | 55 |
| Admission Date | 05/03/2010 |
| Current Location | Central California Women’s Facility |
| Location Link | Directions |
| Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year) | CONDEMNED |
Tanya Jaime Nelson Other News
SANTA ANA – A North Carolina woman sat motionless in court Tuesday as she was convicted of murdering a Westminster fortune teller and her daughter in April 2005 after she received a fortune that did not come true.
The seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated for about a day before finding Tanya Jaime Nelson, 45, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the stabbing deaths of Ha “Jade” Smith, 52, and Anita Vo, 23, plus several “special circumstances” that could lead to a death sentence.
Superior Court Judge Frank F. Fasel scheduled a penalty hearing to begin Tuesday. If the same jury recommends that Tanya Jaime Nelson be executed for the double murders, she would become only the second woman to get the death penalty in Orange County history.
Smith’s sisters, Nicky Phan, of Vancouver, Canada, and Huong Kempf, of St. Louis. Missouri, watched the verdicts in the courtroom gallery with tears brimming in their eyes. Later, they wept as they hugged Deputy District Attorney Sonia Balleste.
Co-defendant Phillipe Zamora, 55, also of North Carolina, pleaded guilty last year to two counts of first-degree murder and agreed to cooperate with authorities in the prosecution of Tanya Jaime Nelson. He will be sentenced to 50 years to life in prison later in the year.
He testified for two days through a Vietnamese interpreter and told the jury that he joined Nelson on the murderous mission after Tanya Jaime Nelson promised to introduce him to potential gay sex partners in Orange County.
Zamora said he was present in Smith’s home on April 21, 2005, when Nelson began stabbing Anita Vo, prompting Smith to scream. He testified that he panicked when Tanya Jaime Nelson yelled at him, “Kill her! Kill her! Don’t let her scream!”
He said he picked up a wine bottle and hit Smith in the shoulder to silence her before he wrestled her to the ground and stabbed her repeatedly with two knives.
“It happened so quickly,” Zamora told the jury. “I didn’t know what to do … I didn’t want her to scream.”
Zamora also testified that Nelson told him on the return flight to North Carolina that Smith was targeted for death because she gave Tanya Jaime Nelson a fortune that did not come true.
Tanya Jaime Nelson felt cheated because Smith predicted for Nelson that her business would do well if she relocated from Orange County to North Carolina, Zamora said, but instead Nelson ended up her losing her house.
Smith “did the fortune-telling for her and it was not accurate,” Zamora testified, and therefore Tanya Jaime Nelson felt that Smith “deserved to die.”
Anita Vo, 23 was stabbed to death with her mother, Zamora added, because Tanya Jaime Nelson felt she had also “deceived her, cheated her, like her mom.”
Defense attorney Ken Reed argued that Zamora made up that story to implicate Nelson and escape a death penalty prosecution.
Reed argued that Zamora was the sole killer, and that his client was not present when the two victims were slashed to death.
Tanya Jaime Nelson faces the death penalty hearing next week because her jury convicted her of the special circumstances of committing multiple murders, murders during the commission of robbery, and murder by lying in wait.
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Tanya Jaime Nelson 2021
Tanya Jaime Nelson is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility the home of California Death Row For Women
Why Is Tanya Jaime Nelson On Death Row
Tanya Jaime Nelson was convicted of two murders
she is a physcopath must be dead by now. Why death penalty is not active yet?
California has not executed anyone since 2006, there is a halt on executions by the current Governor
your going straight to hell.! how dare you judge someone off of what u read ,,,haven’t u heard of people being wrongfully convicted Tanya was my bunker and I was arrested 1 time my entire life!!! for small time white collar crime .Tanya ended up becoming my bunkie after i had a fight with a few girls in the dorm part of the jail she was not convicted when i met here she was only 1 year in fighting her case. Tanya nelson was 1 person and 1 reason i never went to jail Agin. She is a firm believer in JESUS and brought numerous of women to the lord through the bible she is a women activist! for newbie 1st timers in jail and she was mines we was not there to know the full story! and it was her word against his ! 1 my theory on how she ended up with the victims items was because tanya owned a store like all owners would bootleg of the street and sell i believe she ended up buying off that man she testified against and in order for him to get less time he had to pin it all on tanya and they did a great job …….. first of they said the victim told tanya she would get her husband back and it didnt work then she killed her then it was her business and it failed smh and whole time tanya was with her husband he came to see her every week they talk on phone everyday they couldn’t use tht they moved on to her business saying it failed and thts why she killed her no that man killed her and blamed Tanya to get less time stole everything and went to Tanya to sale the items for her store can u imagine doing a simple crime and it ends up getting u in a even worst crime .she was only doing fraud by bootlegging and ended up with this lady things and they blamed her for having her belongings. i even committed fraud by cashing a fake check fake name what if the name i picked was the name of somebody who just got murdered that would be my as$ right so please don’t judge people instead pray and i apologize for saying your going to hell