‘Undercover Boss’ Finds out Employee’s Daughter Was Murdered in Heartbreaking Resurfaced Clip

A clip from the second season of Undercover Boss has been revived and made the rounds online, as well as one worker’s harrowing tale of revenge that turns into a story of redemption and triumph. In 2010, then–Johnny Rockets chief executive John Fuller was ready to show a different side of himself. Ahead of his episode of Undercover Boss, the CEO told The Orange County Register he was excited when CBS asked him to go undercover for the show. Even though he had to do the notorious Johnny Rockets dance, he saw it as a chance to participate on the front lines.

“You have to go into it and be sincere about learning, and roll up your sleeves and soak up as much knowledge as possible,” said Fuller, who had never worked at any of his 300 restaurants. During his time undercover, he worked in several Johnny Rockets locations, including Atlantic City, Uncasville, Connecticut, and a sports bar-themed version of the retro restaurant in New York City.

Even so, Fuller could not have anticipated the shocking, emotional encounter he would have with an Atlantic City employee. After a hard evening of serving food and busing tables, Fuller approached Tony to take a break together. As the two stood on a scenic boardwalk by the beach under a late afternoon sky, the men waxed poetic about the weather and began conversing about their families and upbringings.

“Do you have kids?” Fuller asked Tony. “Yeah, I do. I have kids. Um, I actually lost one. My daughter was murdered,” he responded as Fuller looked at him in shock. “I found out who it was,” Tony continued. “I took the law on my own hands, and I went out, and I assaulted him, and I don’t remember much. I blacked out, and by the time I came through, I was already going to jail. I really hurt the guy pretty bad. He’s still alive. He’s not dead, thank God. So, I ended up serving three years for it.”

In a voiceover, Fuller noted that Tony said his daughter Nikki’s murder was still an unsolved crime, but he believed he caught the man who did it. “I lived under the boardwalk for three months. I kept a couple blankets under there, so I turned my chair and I take my blankets and my backpack and go (unintelligible) and sleep, go in the morning, to the casinos in the bathroom and wash up,” Tony continued.

“And I kept coming here, and I kept seeing this sign, ‘hey, Johnny Rockets is coming.’ And then, one day, the owner was sitting out there. So I just asked him, and I told him the truth about my…you know, my background, and the guy gave me a job down here, man. And I owe him so much for taking me off the street. Ever since I started working here, it’s like my life is just starting to make a change, man. And it’s incredible.”

When he spoke to Nation’s Restaurant News in 2010, Fuller noted how Tony’s story inspired him in particular due to having a daughter around the same age as Nikki. “That really struck me in that he had such an upbeat attitude in how he interacted with guests. I thought, if this guy can keep it going like that, I should be able to conquer anything.”