Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Witness Saw Accused Murderer’s Girlfriend with Alleged Victim

Circus Circus employee Carlos Arroyo told investigators he saw Evonne Haley with murder victim Thelma Davila in a casino restaurant about six weeks before Davila disappeared in 1994.

Arroyo also said he saw Davila with Haley in a grocery store parking lot and at a medical office.

The information was contained in arguments filed by prosecutors opposing a bail reduction sought by Haley, who is charged with illegally using a credit card belonging to Katherine Powell, another woman Middleton is accused of killing.

Washoe District Judge Deborah Agosti is scheduled to hear arguments Friday on Haley's request to reduce her $25,000 cash-only bail.

Agosti also is expected to decide at that time whether Haley, 38, will stand trial on credit card fraud and theft charges on April 29 as currently scheduled.

Middleton, 34, a former Miami police officer, has pleaded innocent to two murder charges.

Powell, 45, an elementary school teacher, was reported missing in February 1995 when she failed to show up for school. Her body was found in a trash bin several days later.

Middleton told investigators he had consensual sex with her, but denied the killing.

Haley is accused of using Powell's credit card to purchase items from an electronics store.

During a preliminary hearing in November, an employee of the Good Guys electronics store testified that Haley came to the store on Feb. 6 to pick up a stereo receiver Haley had allegedly purchased over the phone using Powell's credit card.

Davila, 42, a casino worker, disappeared in August. 1994. Her remains were found in April 1995 in a marshy area near Verdi.

Middleton was charged in Florida of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 16-year-old woman while he was on duty as a Dade County police officer in 1990.

He pleaded guilty to battery and false imprisonment in a plea bargain after his trial resulted in a hung jury.

He worked as a cable television installer after coming to Reno.

He also is a suspect in the murder of a woman who disappeared from Montrose, Colo., on Nov. 21, 1993. The remains of Buffy Rice Donahue, 19, were found last May.

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