Former North Texas restaurant owner, wife found dead in Ohio double homicide
A house fire in Belmont, Ohio, that was later ruled a double homicide, killed an Arlington restaurant owner and his wife on Sept. 21.
Tom Strussion, and his wife, Angela, were inside their Ohio home when a fire was reported to first responders around 7 a.m. Belmont County Sheriff David Lucas said the department was investigating the incident as a double homicide, but that none of the “autopsy reports or information regarding the findings will be released,” according to The Times Leader.
Lucas later revealed that a 31-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman were charged after an investigation linked them to an extortion plan involving Strussion.
“At this point we are unsure if this is related to the homicide, but the plot was uncovered so the arrest was made and possibly further charges will be made after the prosecutor reviews the case,” Lucas told The Times Leader.
Tom Strussion, an Ohio native, was known for his food and his smile, said Ranee Sires Harper, who knew the couple, but befriended Tom Strussion three years ago while working together.
“He was always the life of the party. … He loved to cook, he wanted to feed you and wanted you to enjoy his food. Everybody loved him,” Harper said. “What could he have possibly done to deserve that?”
Harper said that Strussion catered through a business called Tommy Boy’s BBQ, out of Finish Line Bar in Fort Worth, before taking over The Shed, a restaurant in Weatherford.
Strussion went on to open his Arlington restaurant “Salsa Joe’s Tex-Mex Smokehouse,” located at 1700 W. Park Row Drive, in 2019.
“Salsa Joe’s was a creation he was building from when I met him at Finish Line,” Harper said. “It was years in progress. He was wanting to expand to Mexico, he was really wanting to do things with it.”
He sold the Arlington location shortly after his mother died and went back to Ohio where he became the owner of two more Salsa Joe’s locations, one in Belmont and one in West Virginia.
The Arlington Tex-Mex restaurant, which is temporarily closed as of June 29, offered smoked meats and burgers but also tacos, tortas and roasted chicken alongside a full bar.
