Family awaits justice after killing
Boy suspected in death of 18-year-old fled area, police say
BENTONVILLE — Laquita Nguyen and her family grieve the death of her daughter two years ago, but they also want justice for her.
Alexus Nguyen, 18, was found unresponsive sitting in a vehicle with a gunshot wound in her head at 10:20 p.m. April 13, 2022, on East Asher Court. She was later pronounced dead, according to a Rogers Police Department news release.
Police obtained an arrest warrant for manslaughter for a boy involved in Nguyen’s death, Keith Foster, a police spokesperson, previously said. Police believe the teen fled the area, and law enforcement has been unable to find him, Foster said.
Laquita Nguyen, along with other family members and friends, honored Alexus on Saturday with a balloon release.
They gathered at the area on East Asher Court where her daughter died. The event honored Alexus, but also called attention to the case. The family hopes the attention leads to the arrest of the teen responsible for her death.
“Alexus was a bright, funny, carefree person that always dropped whatever she was doing to go help family or friends,” Nguyen said. “She was the entertainer of our family, always keeping us laughing, and knew how to cheer everyone up.”
She had dreams of graduating high school and going to cosmetology school to do nails and hair because that’s what she loved. She taught herself to do makeup and was teaching herself to do her own nails.
Her daughter’s goal was to one day open her own business.
“We will forever be grateful for the life that we got to spend with her and wish we had more time,” Nguyen said. “There isn’t anything we can do but fight to get justice for her because we still have not gotten justice and that’s all we want.”
Nguyen said she probably talks monthly to detectives, but they have not provided any updates on the teen’s whereabouts.
Three of his family members — Daniel Zenon-Chavez, Rosa Reyes-Zendejas and Giovanny Zenon, all of Arkansas City, Kan., are charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution. The three have pleaded innocent to the felony charge.
The three are accused of aiding the teen in his flight from justice.
Their jury trial is set to begin July 8 in Benton County Circuit Judge Robin Green’s court.
Laquita Nguyen is suing the suspected teen shooter, along with his parents, Reyes-Zendejas and Zenon-Chavez.
A juvenile who was in the car when the girl was shot is also being sued along with his mother, Ana Karen Martinez, according to court documents.
Giovanny Zenon, the suspected shooter’s brother, and Jose Armando-Ambriz, his uncle, are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The complaint claims Alexus Nguyen told her mother on April 13, 2022, that she was going to pick up another teenager and give him a ride home. The lawsuit claims she picked up the teen and another boy and the teen fired a gun into Alexus’ head, causing her death.
The lawsuit accuses the other boy in the car of leaving the scene after the shooting instead of calling for emergency assistance or rendering aid to Alexus.
The lawsuit claims that the suspected shooter purchased a new cellphone and got a new number and Armando-Ambriz transferred $1,000 to his nephew from the Walmart Neighborhood Market on Eighth Street in Rogers to a store in Arizona, according to court documents.
The family members of the suspected shooter are accused of conspiring to help the teen avoid being arrested, according to the complaint.
The parents are accused in the lawsuit of failing to supervise their children.
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Nguyen has a message for the teenager responsible for her daughter’s death.
“I want him to know that he needs to turn himself in,” she said. “If he truly was her friend, he would.”
Nguyen said she believes he needs to spend the rest of his life in prison, but she doesn’t know how the justice system will work because of the teen’s age when her daughter was killed.
She said the teen’s family gets to go on with their lives and maybe even get to talk to him, but her family is still grieving and trying to learn how to live their lives without her daughter.
“We want him found so we can have a little bit of justice,” Nguyen said.
She said her family still talks about Alexus every day.
“I know she’s looking down on us and hopefully soon, we’re praying, and soon hopefully he’s caught.”
“Alexis was a bright, funny, carefree person that always dropped whatever she was doing to go help family or friends. She was the entertainer of our family always keeping us laughing and knew how to cheer everyone up.”
—Laquita Nguyen, Alexus Nguyen’s mother