U.S. Marshals arrested a man in Kensington accused of killing his girlfriend as her son sat nearby
Abiud Torres shot Tatiana Vargas inside her apartment during an argument on Dec. 23, investigators said. Torres was hiding nearby in vacant buildings until the marshals caught him Thursday.
A U.S. Marshals task force arrested a man in Kensington early Thursday who was accused of shooting his girlfriend to death during an argument two days before Christmas.
Abiud Torres, 20, was taken into custody just before 7 a.m. outside a vacant home on Hart Lane near Kensington Avenue, according to U.S. Marshals Supervisory Deputy Robert Clark.
Two months earlier, in a home not far from there, Torres killed Tatiana Vargas, 35, as her 11-year-old son Noah, sat in a room nearby, according to investigators.
On Thursday afternoon, hours after Torres was taken into custody, her father, Joe Vargas, said he was still in shock.
“It’s a blessing, but it’s not going to bring my daughter back to life,” he said. “This is all just feels like a dream. It’s hard.”
Vargas’ oldest daughter was shot inside her apartment on Hartville Street near Tioga in Kensington on Dec. 23. Torres fled the scene, leaving his girlfriend of about two months behind. But, according to U.S. Marshals, he didn’t go far.
Torres was spotted around Kensington in recent weeks, coming in and out of vacant buildings, Clark said. At 6 a.m. Thursday, a group of marshals surrounded a home on Hart Lane near Kensington Avenue in anticipation of finding him.
Roughly 45 minutes later, Torres showed up and was taken into custody without incident. A spokesperson for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Thursday that Torres will be charged with murder, reckless endangerment, gun offenses and related crimes.
Torres is also wanted in Virginia in connection with an unrelated crime, the spokesperson said, but the details of that other offense were not immediately available.
“Abiud Torres committed a senseless crime against a woman who had her whole life ahead of her,” Clark said in a statement. “I am hoping this arrest can bring some closure to the Vargas family and all who knew Tatiana.”
Joe Vargas said his daughter was a kind, giving soul, often providing for those who were less fortunate than she.
In addition to helping cook and serve food at South Philly Italian Kitchen, the family’s restaurant in West Mount Airy, Vargas worked as an ESL teacher with Nyman Associates in a preschool in the city, according to her family.
Her son, they said, was her pride and joy, and she adored and doted on her sister Josie’s children, as well.
Her father said he had warned her against moving to Kensington, and told her he had heard “bad things” about Torres from people he knew in North Philadelphia.
» READ MORE: Where to find help if you’re experiencing domestic violence in the Philly region
Vargas said those same contacts in North Philadelphia passed along tips about Torres’ location to him, which he said helped investigators close in on him.
“She was just an angel, someone who would help anyone before she helped herself,” he said of his daughter. “We’re looking to close this chapter, and this helps.”