Federal prisoner indicted in LV multiple murders

Bill Gang

Monday, March 2, 1998 | 10:17 a.m.

A man sitting in a federal prison on drug charges has been indicted by a Clark County grand jury on murder charges in a 1992 quadruple murder that already has one killer on death row.

Richard Powell's seven-year sentence in a Colorado federal prison resulted from information authorities were given by one of the four murder victims and prosecutors always contended the slayings were in retaliation for the snitching.

That victim, 24-year-old Samantha Scotti, had been tortured before being killed with a bullet to the chest as she took a bath in her Las Vegas apartment. The other victims apparently were little more than unfortunate visitors to the home.

The only survivor was a then-4-year-old girl who knew one of the killers, Vernell Ray Evans, as Uncle Ray or Little Ray, but could only describe the second gunman as "Scary Eyes."

Although authorities believed the second killer was Powell, he wasn't identified until one day in a federal courtroom when the girl looked into his face and announced he was "Scarey Eyes."

Deputy District Attorney David Roger conceded the identification was insufficient to charge Powell but additional evidence has surfaced that resulted Friday in the grand jury indictment -- primarily from new witnesses who said Powell related his involvement in the murders to them.

Roger, who said there was no evidence recovered from the murder scene to connect Powell, said some of the new witnesses are prison inmates while others are not.

Powell, 36, also known as Richie Rich, is in a Colorado prison for a 1993 conviction for possessing and planning to distribute about three pounds of cocaine.

The drugs were found Dec. 6, 1990, after undercover Metro Police hailed a Cadillac and, with Scotti's help, bought drugs from Powell. The sale led to the discovery of the drugs in the car and $30,000 in cash.

Scotti and the three others were killed in the apartment at 532 Wardelle St. either late at night April 30, 1992, or early in the morning, May 1, in what police quickly determined was a revenge slaying.

The killers apparently picked that night because police were busy attempting to contain rioting following the first verdict in the trial of Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney King.

The prosecution's star witness was Evans' girlfriend, Shirannah Rice, who testified that he had a smile on his face as he detailed the murder spree for her, although he omitted the name of the second gunman.

In her trial testimony, Rice confirmed that the target of the death spree was Scotti and that the other three just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Scotti was shot in the arms and legs, and one hand was blown apart before the fatal shot was fired into her chest.

According to Rice, Evans said he and a second man walked into the apartment and Evans quickly killed Jermaine Woods and Stephen Walker, both 19, with shots to their heads after ordering them to remove their hats.

Lisa Boyer, 26, who was in another room, was then shot in the chest, and the killers' attention turned to Scotti.

The murders were witnessed by the 4-year-old girl who testified that she followed after the two killers -- whom she identified for police at the time as "Little Ray" and "Scary Eyes" -- as they executed their victims.

The mother of the eyewitness said Evans was known to the girl as "Little Ray" or "Uncle Ray."

But the girl could not identify Evans at his trial two years later as one of the killers and while the girl offered some glimpses into the mass murder, most of her recollections were fuzzy.

The girl's mother, who said she was doing laundry at the time of the murders, testified that she talked with her daughter on the telephone minutes after the incident and was told, "Uncle Ray, Little Ray came in with guns. A bad man shot everybody."

Evans, 27, recently appealed his conviction and death sentence to the Nevada Supreme Court, but the justices rejected his appeal.