Mayhem in the Desert

04/11/2024

Mary Vincent was 15-years-old when she ran away from her Las Vegas home in 1978. While hitchhiking in California on her way back to Vegas, she was picked up by ex-merchant seaman Lawrence Singleton. Singleton knocked Vincent unconscious, assaulted her, cut off both of her arms with a hatchet, and threw her body down a cliff. Vincent survived the attack and crawled back up the cliff to the freeway where she obtained help. Singleton was convicted of kidnapping, r**e, attempted murder, and mayhem. However, he only served 8 years for this brutal crime. Singleton moved to Florida after his release where he later murdered a mother of three in 1997. Vincent testified against Singleton at his Florida trial. He was sentenced to death and died in prison. Vincent went on to become an artist and victim advocate.

01/11/2024

Five years of Mayhem!

We started the original Las Vegas online true crime publication on Nevada Day in 2019, and we have plenty more Vegas true crime tales these next five years!

Keep reading, and remember to be careful…it’s a big desert out there!

16/09/2024

Anyone have more info on the longstanding myth/fact that construction crews discovered human remains while building Summerlin and Green Valley?

We have long heard stories of bodies disposed of in the desert decades ago that were allegedly uncovered during the housing boom of the 90’s. But when we searched news archives, we’ve come up with very little on this front. Thoughts…Urban legend or some substance to these stories?

15/09/2024

Glenn Smothers, a visiting utilities magnate in town on business, persuaded three women he met at the casino to join him in his room at the Flamingo in early January of 1958. The four were already intoxicated and after more drinks were poured, an argument developed between two of Smothers’ guests. The dispute became physical once Helen O’Brien, a 31-year-old Las Vegas mother of three, threw the contents of her glass of champagne in the face of 26-year-old Artie Elizabeth Bell. A fight ensued, during which Bell cut a vein in O’Brien’s neck with a broken champagne glass. A doctor was called to the room to render aid without success, and O’Brien succumbed to her injuries.

Bell was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to six months in jail. Judge Henderson presiding over the criminal case noted conduct like what occurred in Smothers’ room at the Flamingo could jeopardize legal gaming in Nevada, showing the threat of federal regulation of Nevada’s gaming industry was a top concern of elected officials at the time.

News reports noted that Smothers was married with three daughters. Smothers also was later involved in allegations of bribery regarding the public utilities he managed.

15/09/2024

Thanksgiving weekend of 1987. Roxanne Harris traveled to Las Vegas with her parents and 7-year-old son, Alexander, for a short holiday trip. The family decided to make a short stop at Whiskey Pete’s in Primm on their way back to their home in Mountain View, California.

Roxanne left Alexander in the Whiskey Pete’s video arcade while she and her parents gambled in the casino. But when she returned after twenty minutes, her son was nowhere to be found. A review of video surveillance footage showed a man that appeared to be in his mid-thirties leading Alexander out of the hotel by the hand.

Thirty-three days after being walked out of Whiskey Pete’s by a stranger, the body of Alexander Harris was located by a gardener underneath the nearby trailer of a casino manager. The boy’s body had no discernible signs of physical trauma, and the cause of death was ruled to be suffocation.

Detectives soon homed in on San Diego computer programmer Howard Lee Haupt, who was staying at Whiskey Pete’s at the time of Alexander’s abduction and who bore a resemblance to police sketches of the suspected abductor. Haupt was arrested in February of 1988 and extradited to Las Vegas to stand trial for murder. Haupt was ultimately acquitted of the charges as the only evidence against him was conflicting eyewitness testimony.

02/09/2024

Rob Telles was not the first Las Vegas politician to take the stand and testify in his own defense after being charged with murder. The first mayor of North Las Vegas, Horace G. Tucker, shot and killed Earl Kaylor in his home in 1957. Tucker claimed he fell asleep after a night of heavy drinking and awoke to find Kaylor shot five times. Tucker wasn’t charged in Kaylor’s death.

In 1963, Tucker shot and killed Omar Evans at his home. Again, Tucker claimed he fell asleep after a night of heavy drinking and awoke to find Evans shot to death in his living room. Tucker stood trial for Evans’ killing, and he testified in his defense. Tucker was convicted of murder but the conviction was overturned on appeal. Tucker was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to only 4-6 months in jail.

25/08/2024

A tourist from California staying at Caesars Palace with his wife and three kids robbed a local bank in October of 1986. He was arrested in his hotel room after the vehicle he used in the heist was tracked to the Caesars Palace parking lot.

25/08/2024

Photo from the aftermath of the 1999 mass shooting at the Albertsons located at Sahara and Valley View that left four employees slain. The perpetrator, Zane Floyd, is still on Nevada’s death row. Photo is an exhibit from the criminal trial against Floyd.

25/08/2024

1930 article in the Los Angeles Daily News noting that prostitution in Las Vegas is “perfectly legal.”

14/07/2024

Our latest article is about a gruesome crime that occurred in Boulder City back in 2003. The suspect was a part-time college student, and the murder case would linger for over a decade before resolution.

A trip to the fishing pond at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Boulder City took a gruesome turn on the morning of June 23, 2003. A woman’s torso was located in two parts floating in the pond, the victim’s abdomen having been sliced vertically. A search of the park then revealed additional indications of the unknown brutality that had occurred – a human ear with an earring was located near the pond, and a bloodied blouse was found in a trashcan at the park.

It did not take long to tie the grisly crime scene to the sudden disappearance of a local Boulder City resident from her job as a maid at the Hacienda Hotel located just outside of town on the way toward the Nevada-Arizona border. 49-year-old Ladonna Milam received a request for extra towels from Room 1651 while working the night of June 22, 2003. It is unknown whether Ladonna experienced any hesitation as she carried four fresh towels up to the room occupied by a young man that had left the on-duty clerk at the hotel with an uneasy feeling over due to his skittish behavior and refusal to make eye contact. However, we do know that Ladonna was never seen alive again after visiting Room 1651.

Surveillance footage would show the occupant of Room 1651 carrying a large duffel bag as he took the hotel elevator to the ground floor at around 1:00 a.m. the morning of June 23, 2003.

Visit Mayhem in the Desert to read the rest of the article…

13/07/2024

Items found on the victim located inside of the barrel discovered at Lake Mead in 2022, including a silver digital Timex watch, size 11 Trax tennis shoes, a size 2X button down Idletime shirt, and jeans with a 46 inch waist and 30 inches long.

13/07/2024

Unlike most serial killers that have committed their crimes in Las Vegas, Wayne D. Horton was a local of the city.

03/07/2024

In 1982, a Las Vegas car salesman named Thomas A. Hill was arrested for committing a series of home invasion robberies of several apartments. Hill claimed he committed the crimes while under the influence of demons and that he had been cured of his affliction after Reverend Grant Graan performed an exorcism of Hill while he was incarcerated at CCDC. After the court heard testimony from Rev. Graan outside the presence of the jury, he wasn’t permitted to testify regarding the alleged exorcism. Hill did have witnesses testify in support of his insanity defense, but the jury ultimately found Hill guilty.

📸 in 9/22/82 LVRJ

02/07/2024

“If I can finance him, and I will, I can finance anybody.” Those living in Las Vegas during the 80’s or 90’s remember the catchphrase of Fred Fayeghi which was featured in every commercial for his used car dealership, GMF Motors. The GMF Motors marketing campaigns also relied heavily on comically cheap setups, such as offering to finance a “hitchhiker” trying to catch a ride near his car lot.

But both Fred and GMF Motors courted criminal controversy during their decades in the Vegas Valley.

Our latest article is all about the controversies of Fred Fayeghi and GMF Motors.

17/06/2024

A floorman and a security guard at the Horseshoe were charged with murder after a patron 86’d from the casino was later shot to death at the corner of Third and Fremont in 1979. The floorman ended up retaining well-known counsel.

17/06/2024

Check out our interview with Ana Garcia about the decades-long hunt to find the murderer of Kim Bryant, who was abducted from near her Las Vegas high school back in 1979.

This Week on True Crime News the Podcast: A teen’s disappearance from school is treated like a runaway case despite her parents’ concerns until the girl’s bo...

04/06/2024

Happy birthday to the beautiful, talented, and all-around amazing Meagan! 🎂 🎉

05/05/2024

A manhunt was underway near Goodsprings in July of 1955 after ex-G.I. Gerald Nolan murdered his landlady at the North Las Vegas home he rented in what the papers described as “one of the most brutal beatings in the history of North Las Vegas.” This article from the RJ mentions that the sheriff contemplated sending a mounted posse to search for Nolan amidst the abandoned mines around Goodsprings.