SANTA ANA – A woman who appears to have only a traffic ticket in Orange County on her record pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a murder charge in the death of Annie Kim Pham, who was beaten outside a Santa Ana nightclub early Saturday.

Vanesa Tapia Zavala, 25, of Santa Ana entered her plea in a brief video arraignment at the courthouse inside Orange County Jail, as some detail – including texts from Pham hours before the fight – emerged about events outside The Crosby.

A second-degree murder conviction carries a maximum sentence of 15 years to life in prison. Police continue to look for at least four other possible suspects, two men and two women in their 20s. Zavala remained in custody Wednesday in lieu of $1 million bail. A pretrial hearing is set for Jan. 30.

Pham, 23, of Westminster, an aspiring writer and actress who attended Chapman University, was pronounced dead Tuesday afternoon after spending more than three days on life support.

Prosecutors declined to discuss details of the charge against Zavala pending further investigation. But a lawyer working for Zavala and another lawyer who says he’s been contacted by one of the potential suspects – and friends of Pham who say they’ve spoken with people involved in the incident – said the violence outside the club was chaotic and involved at least a half-dozen other people.

Police on Wednesday continued their investigation into what prompted the deadly assault, which began with an argument among people waiting in line to get inside the popular nightspot, said Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna.

The fight that ended with Pham unconscious has drawn national attention as a short video circulated online showing a group of people wrestling and kicking a figure on the ground in front of a crowd of about 50 people. In the video, one person is visible crouching to take another cellphone video. A bouncer from the club appears to try to intervene, well after the violence began.

On Tuesday, Zavala, then held at the Santa Ana Jail, declined a request for an interview.

‘A MELEE’

Zavala’s attorney, Ken Reed, said Wednesday that he is confident his client will be found not guilty.

Reed said Zavala, a mother of a 5-year-old son, was born and raised in Santa Ana, graduated from a local high school and now is an office worker. He said that she went out Friday evening with her boyfriend, the father of her child, and that they were leaving The Crosby to go to a less crowded establishment.

Reed said he does not know if Zavala and Pham exchanged words, but he said Zavala was hit on the head during the fight.

“She was crawling on her hands and knees trying to look for her phone,” which police recovered, Reed said.

“There were an awful lot more people fighting,” Reed said.

Reed called the incident a “melee,” saying people would not stand around without coming to the aid of one person being attacked.

In a 2010 traffic citation for a seat belt infraction, Zavala is listed as 5 feet 3 inches tall and 115 pounds. Pham was 5 feet 1 inch tall and 115 pounds.

Zavala, Reed said, is “devastated like anybody else would be if your life was turned upside down in a matter of two minutes.”

A second attorney, Michael Molfetta, a criminal defense lawyer who said he’s been contacted by a potential defendant, said, “There is a lot more to this.”

“Nobody deserves the fate (Pham) got. (But) it was not race related or a photo bombing. It was simply a stupid argument over somebody inadvertently bumping into somebody else that escalated very, very quickly and very, very violently.”

PHAM’S NIGHT

Pham spent much of Friday night at the Huntington Beach home she shared with her Chihuahua, Nala, and roommates, according to two close friends, Vy Dao and Viviane Dao, who are cousins.

That was typical of Pham, the friends said in an interview near where Pham was beaten. The cousins added that Pham liked to play board games and cook for friends.

On Friday night, the cousins were working as food servers at Kitayama Restaurant in Newport Beach when Pham texted them around 8 p.m. The friends described that text, and a few others over the next couple of hours, as routine, involving issues such as hair styles.

At around 10:40 p.m., Pham sent the cousins another text.

“Want to come over?”

The cousins texted that they were going out with a co-worker after their shift and invited Pham along, but Pham declined.

About 11:30 p.m. the cousins say they got a text from Pham indicating that she’d been drinking.

In less than an hour – at 12:23 a.m. – Santa Ana police took a call seeking assistance outside The Crosby. Pham was unconscious on the sidewalk.

After learning that Pham was on life support, Vy Dao said she spoke with friends of Pham who were with her outside the club. One of the male friends said he broke his arm in the fight. Vy Dao described a scene in which at least two females were fighting with Pham.

“(Pham’s friends) were trying to help get the girls off of her, but security stopped them,” Vy Dao said.

“They are pretty torn. I know that they did try their best.”

A WITNESS

It had been a typical night at The Crosby. DJs played hip-hop while patrons drank at the bar and a line grew outside, said Jorge Estrada, 25, who was inside when the fight started outside.

Estrada said he ran to the large, front window and could see portions of the fight outside. Though he said security guards and others didn’t intervene during the violence, he said one guard eventually picked up a woman on the ground, later identified as Pham.

“I knew something was terribly wrong,” Estrada said. “He threw this limp, rag doll of a person over his shoulder. That person looked dead.”

Estrada said Pham was put back on the ground where she remained motionless. People began talking about the person or people who assaulted her, then ran away.

“I asked, ‘Well, which way did they go?’ ” Estrada said. “But no one seemed to care about that.”

Instead, Estrada said, people inside joined the crowd, taking pictures of Pham unconscious on the ground while bicycle patrol officers monitored her. Paramedics with the Orange County Fire Authority arrived four minutes after receiving the first of several 911 calls, officials said.

REWARDS OFFERED

Late Tuesday, after Pham’s death, the Santa Ana City Council voted to offer a $5,000 reward for information leading to more arrests. Additionally, Downtown Inc., a coalition of local businesses, also has offered a $5,000 reward.

The council also voted to increase the police presence downtown. Two to four additional officers will be stationed downtown nightly, said Interim Police Chief Carlos Rojas.

“There isn’t a crime wave in downtown,” said Rojas, who called Saturday’s beating an isolated event.

Staff writers Alyssa Duranty, Claudia Koerner, Doug Irving and Alejandra Molina contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: dsalazar@ocregister.com or 714-704-3709