Cornelius Nwokenaka says he kept his fears about his brother's job as a cab driver to himself.
He said, "I don't want to scare him but I was scared about the job, so I never said anything to him."
Those fears were realized Thursday morning when a Houston police officer discovered the body of cab driver Blaize Uzoma Nwokenaka, 50. He'd been robbed, shot and killed. A fire had also been set inside the cab. The discovery was in the 12000 block of Overbrook in west Houston, just three blocks away from where a neighbor made his own discovery.
Matt Coyle-Larner recalled, "The car was over there parked by the light post and a car in front of it."
Authorities confirm a yellow cab was abandoned on Overbrook early Tuesday morning. The body of the driver, Mohammed Nabil Elsayed, 32, was found in a drainage ditch in the 5400 block of Wheatley in northwest Houston in Acres Homes.
Both cabs, say authorities, picked up fares on two different days at the same gas station on South Dairy Ashford at Whittington in west Houston. At the same time, at about 2am. The gas station was closed. Authorities believe there are two suspects at work.
Besides the cabs involved having cameras mounted inside, there is another piece of evidence at Thursday's crime that investigators are looking at.
Fil Waters with the HPD Homicide Division said, "Where the cab was positioned in the parking lot, this particular office building has three different surveillance cameras positioned at three different angles. We will use that."
Yellow Cab has released this statement:
"We join the Houston community in being very concerned and saddened by today's news, that a second independent contractor cab driver has been allegedly involved in a homicide. We are cooperating fully with the proper authorities."
Meanwhile, the violent crimes are just too nerve-wracking for this neighbor.
"It's crazy," said Coyle-Larner. "It's scary. I don't want to live here anymore after this."
Crime Stoppers and Yellow Cab announced a reward of up to $15,000 for anyone providing information leading to arrests and convictions on the suspects in the two cases.
