Strong not-guilty plea entered in murder of LV bookmaker

Bill Gang and Bob Shemeligian

Thursday, Feb. 26, 1998 | 10:19 a.m.

When District Judge John McGroarty asked Amy DeChant for her plea to murder charges in the death of Las Vegas bookmaker Bruce Weinstein, she announced "not guilty" -- with a heavy emphasis on the not.

The judge on Wednesday then set an Aug. 17 trial date for the woman who looked younger than her 49 years, despite being bound in chains and shackles and dressed in a standard blue jail uniform.

DeChant, who was indicted Sept. 12, is being held without bail pending resolution of the case.

Weinstein disappeared July 7, 1996, from his southwest Las Vegas home that he shared with DeChant.

The remains of the 46-year-old bookmaker were discovered Aug. 11, 1996, in a makeshift grave off the Old Alamo Highway about half a mile west of State Route 168, north of Las Vegas.

Immediately the investigation focused on two people: DeChant, who operated a local carpet-cleaning business, and Robert Wayne Jones, her employee. Jones, who also is in jail pending trial, is scheduled to challenge his indictment at a March 13 hearing.

Investigators said they found blood stains in the freshly cleaned carpets of Weinstein's home after searching for clues to his disappearance.

Other sources point out that a rolled-up spare piece of carpet is believed to be missing from the garage of the home, and that DeChant changed her story about the events leading to Weinstein's disappearance before she and Jones disappeared.

A poker player who routinely played low-limit tournaments in Las Vegas casinos, DeChant was arrested in January at a private residence in Port St. Lucie, Fla., on a tip from a person who saw her case profiled on "America's Most Wanted" television show.

Jones, 58, who disappeared July 12, 1996, had traveled back and forth from Southern California to his house in Las Vegas before he finally was apprehended on June 8, 1997, after police were tipped that he was in Las Vegas.

DeChant was arrested three weeks after Weinstein disappeared when police found more than $100,000 in cash, false birth certificates and wigs in her car.

After spending nearly two months in the Harford County, Md., jail, DeChant was released Sept. 13, 1996, after Michael Gerber, her brother, posted $5,000 cash bail. The bail amount had been reduced from $2 million, according to court records.