Restaurant owner speaks out on murder of his daughter after police identify the suspect
PHILADELPHIA - A father and Philly restaurant owner is pleading for help to find the man police say killed his daughter inside her Kensington home last month while her 11-year-old son was there.
"Me and my daughter. Father's Day. That's what I'm talking about," said Joseph Vargas in a cellphone video that shows 35-year-old Tatiana Vargas the way he wants to remember her. Cooking alongside him in his family restaurant, South Philly Italian Kitchen, in Mount Airy.
"She used to cook on my days off because she knew the food," said Vargas.
FOX 29's Shawnette Wilson talked to him Thursday evening as he reopened the restaurant after it had been closed since December 23, the day his oldest daughter was murdered.
"Working and cooking always been my medicine. My meditation," he said.
However, this is a tough pill to swallow.
"It's tragic. It's unexpected. It still feels like a dream every day I wake up," he said.
It was just after 12:30 p.m., two days before Christmas, when police say 20-year-old Abuid Torres shot Tatiana.
The incident happened inside the house she lived in on the 3100 block of Hartville Street in Kensington. Torres took off and has been on the run for nearly 2 weeks.
"I had a feeling that this wasn't a good relationship and I brang it to her attention," said Vargas.
Tati, as the family affectionately calls her, has an 11-year-old son from a previous relationship who was there when it happened.
"He was playing PlayStation in his room, and basically he told me they were arguing like they argue every day, and then he just heard one shot, and he opened the door and his mom is laying on the floor," said Vargas.
The family says Tati had a great heart and taught at a charter school.
Her younger sister Josie, who also works at the restaurant, returned Thursday night with her father and staff with hopes and prayers of justice soon.
"Whoever is hiding him out, it's just sad that you're hiding him because now you're a part of this," said Vargas.
As with all homicides in the City of Philadelphia, there is a $20,000 dollar reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
Police say Torres is considered armed and dangerous. If you know where he is call the Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334 or 911.