Arlington, Texas restaurant owner and wife killed in double homicide in Belmont, Ohio

Belmont, Ohio - Arlington restaurant owner Tom Strussion and his wife were killed in their Ohio home by house fire last month. The fire was reported to first responders around 7 a.m. that morning, with local authorities later ruling the incident a double homicide.

According to Belmont County Sheriff David Lucas, a 31-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman were charged after an investigation linked them to an extortion plan involving Strussion.

The police department is currently investigating the incident, but have asserted that none of the autopsy reports or information regarding the findings will be released to the public.

Strussion was the owner and founder of Arlington, Texas restaurant “Salsa Joe’s Tex-Mex Smokehouse,” which opened on Park Row Drive in 2019. 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.

Prior to “Salsa Joe’s”, Strussion reportedly 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.

Source(s):

Star-Telegram: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/former-north-texas-restaurant-owner-wife-found-dead-in-ohio-double-homicide/ar-AAPi3n5

The Times Leader: https://www.timesleaderonline.com/news/local-news/2021/09/autopsies-completed-in-double-murder-investigation-in-belmont/