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FORT WORTH -- Two young men accused of robbing, killing and setting fire to a taxi driver near Alliance Airport on Thursday night could be responsible for a Fort Worth cab holdup where the driver ran for his life, according to police reports released Monday.
That robbery happened June 28 near Alliance Airport in Fort Worth and the robbers set the cab on fire after the holdup, the police reports state.The holdup happened just days before 56-year-old Hooshang Vatanpour of Allen was robbed and killed on Thursday in Denton County after his taxi picked up two men in downtown Dallas.Noah Robert Whitehead, 23, of Roanoke; William Kirk Stephens, 22, of Haslet: and Mariesha Lynne Ohlfs, 32, of Argyle have been arrested on suspicion of capital murder, authorities have said. They are being held in the Denton County Jail with bail set at $250,000 each.According to the Fort Worth police reports, a 43-year-old Yellow Cab driver told officers that he picked up two men shortly before 2 p.m. on June 28 in front of the Worthington Hotel in downtown Fort Worth.The two men asked to be taken to the Keller-Haslet Road in far north Fort Worth, the report states.The driver told them it would be $40 and one of the men told the driver to call his mother because she was going to pay when they arrived at Keller-Haslet Road, according to the report.The victim called and talked to a woman who identified herself as one of the men’s mother and agreed that she would pay for the trip, the report states.The driver drove to far north Fort Worth where one of the men pulled out a handgun and the other man who was in the backseat placed a knife to the driver’s throat, according to the reports.At some point, the driver told police that he pulled money out of his pocket, threw it at the suspects, got out of the taxi and ran away.Fort Worth police Sgt. Chad Mahaffey said Monday that authorities have linked only one holdup in Fort Worth to the men accused in the slaying of Vatanpour.On Thursday night, Dallas-based Freedom Cab records showed that Vatanpour picked up two men near the Dallas bus station and they asked to go to Wichita Falls.Vatanpour last made contact at 7:45 p.m. Thursday. Vatanpour’s body was found slashed and burned by Justin firefighters Thursday night just west of Alliance Airport, authorities have said.Authorities tracked down the suspects by tips, tracking dogs and a surveillance camera that captured one suspect as he bought beer at a convenience store a short drive from the crime scene.The suspects were arrested in Haltom City and Argyle.Stephens told officers that he was with Whitehead when the taxi driver was struck on the head with a glass bottle, then stabbed, authorities have said..Whitehead contacted Ohlfs after the killing, telling her to bring gasoline and a shovel, according to the account released by authorities. The driver was doused with gas and set ablaze. The two men then abandoned the taxi about a mile away off John Day Road, officials said, adding that Ohlfs then drove them to her Argyle home. Ohlfs and Whitehead were arrested at the house where police later collected items belonging to the slain taxi driver, authorities said.DOMINGO RAMIREZ JR., 817-390-7763
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