LV man arrested in Pennsylvania in connection with murder

Karen Zekan

Wednesday, June 10, 1998 | 11:13 a.m.

A Las Vegas sports touter has been jailed in Pennsylvania on murder charges in connection with his business partner's Dec. 14 death, which authorities say he arranged by hiring a hit man.

Heath Iliescu, 25, was hiding in the attic of a Harrisburg, Pa., home and fell through the ceiling when authorities arrived at the property to serve an arrest warrant Tuesday morning, said Metro Police homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen.

He remained overnight in a county jail awaiting extradition to Las Vegas where he will answer to charges that he conspired, solicited and ultimately had Bruce Ray Fisher, 27, killed.

Jason Paris, 25, who police have identified as the hired killer, was arrested May 10 in Oak Forest, Ill. He remains in the Clark County Detention Center on murder and conspiracy charges.

Arrest warrants were issued in May naming Paris and Iliescu as the two men responsible for Fisher's death, a development that police said resulted from a lengthy and complicated investigation.

Iliescu and Fisher had been at odds with one another over a dispute that the lieutenant did not elaborate on.

"There was a conflict there, and (killing Fisher) was the way Iliescu chose to deal with the problem," Petersen said. "He thought money could buy him anything."

Police are not sure how Iliescu and Paris became acquainted, but a deal was struck between them that would pay off what Petersen disclosed only as "a couple thousand dollars" if Paris killed Fisher.

Investigators claim that Paris went to Fisher's apartment in the Oasis Tiara apartment complex, 2180 E. Warm Springs Road, about 8:30 p.m. Dec. 14, knocked on his door and was able to lure Fisher outside under the guise that Paris' wife had hit Fisher's car, Petersen said.

The two men were in the parking lot, just steps from the apartment door, when police say Paris fired a fatal round from a semiautomatic handgun into the back of Fisher's head, killing him almost instantly.

The investigation was initially at a standstill with minimal clues to go on.

A few acquaintances had been in Fisher's apartment when the knock came at the door and recalled hearing a man ask Fisher to come outside. Residents of the complex remembered hearing a gunshot and seeing a man in a black leather jacket running from the area.

No one, however, could provide a solid description of the killer or a motive until a source tipped off police several weeks into their detective work.

Paris is from the Chicago area and had been living in Las Vegas only a few months. Police became suspicious of Paris and Iliescu upon interviewing them about the murder, Petersen said, and were hopeful they could obtain warrants before the two men fled.

Investigators' hunches proved correct that their prime suspects would flee to their hometowns.

Paris is believed to have received at least a portion of the money he allegedly was promised for the killing he is accused of committing. The weapon used in the slaying was never recovered.