Woman found dead with throat slashed in South Philly restaurant

Homicide detectives on Friday continued investigating the slaying of a 54-year-old woman who was found with her throat slashed Thursday night in the basement kitchen of a Vietnamese restaurant in South Philadelphia.

Police said the victim, Thuong Nguyen, of South Philadelphia, was a cook at Lee's Cafe & Bistro, 522 Washington Ave.

Chief Inspector Scott Small told reporters "there were about four employees and about five customers inside" the restaurant when the killing occurred in the basement kitchen.

Police found the woman's body in the kitchen shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday. Small said there appeared to have been a violent struggle, and that kitchen equipment had been knocked over and fell on the victim's body.

The sit-down part of the restaurant is on the second floor of the corner eatery. A takeout business and bakery are on the first floor.

According to police, the restaurant's owner flagged down 3rd District officers and directed them to the basement kitchen Thursday night.

The owner told police the victim and another employee were working in the kitchen and that he went to investigate when an order did not arrive within 10 minutes.

He found Nguyen on the floor with her throat slashed. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 9:15 p.m.

Police did not disclose if they had any possible suspects.

On Friday morning, the restaurant was closed.

A man who lives next door, Hung Le, 66, who is originally from Vietnam, said he was home when the stabbing happened. He said he didn't hear anything, and that police came and asked him if he had a security camera outside. He said he didn't.

Le said he didn't know any of the workers in the restaurant and that he didn't go there to eat because he cooks at home.

This block of Washington Avenue houses other small businesses catering to the city's Vietnamese, Chinese and other Asian communities, including a hair salon, day care, acupuncturist and another Asian eatery. Behind Lee's Cafe is the 1st Oriental Supermarket, one of the city's large Asian food supermarkets.

Police said Nguyen lived on the 2000 block of Emily Street, a small residential street of two-story rowhouses. Neighbors on that block expressed shock and sadness to hear about Nguyen's death. They said they didn't know the victim well, but would greet her when they saw her. They said she lived with an adult son. Some neighbors also thought a husband or a second son lived in the home, too.

On Friday morning, no one answered the door to Nguyen's two-story brick home. The blinds were drawn on the first and second floors.

"She was quiet, she stayed to herself," said Eartha Ervin, 46, who has lived on the block for about three years. "She spoke when she saw you."

Ervin, like other neighbors, didn't know Nguyen's name and didn't know where she worked.

"She's quiet," said Leon Bird, 79, who moved in next door to Nguyen about a year and a half ago. "She says hello and goodbye."

Staff writer Joseph Gambardello contributed to this story.