Third teenager indicted in LV quadruple murder

Thursday, Sept. 24, 1998 | 10:55 a.m.

The third teenager alleged to have been involved in the robbery and execution slayings of four men in a southeast Las Vegas home has been indicted by a Clark County Grand Jury.

Wednesday's indictment of Sikia Lafayette Smith, 18, was based in part on a statement he gave to police admitting his involvement in the slayings last month. A similar statement detailing the slayings also was given by another defendant, 19-year-old Terrell Cochise Young, who was indicted last week.

The teenager they claimed was the triggerman, Donte Johnson, 19, was the first to be indicted on the multiple murder charges that could result in death sentences if they are convicted of first-degree murder.

Smith will be arraigned Tuesday in District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski's courtroom.

Not yet charged in the case is a fourth man that Smith and Young told police had guided them to the house at 4825 Terra Linda Avenue, near Tropicana Avenue and Nellis Boulevard.

Smith and Young stated they were told that perhaps as much as $6,000 in cash and a quantity of drugs were in the home, although only $240 in cash was found.

The four victims each were bound with duct tape and shot in the head. They have been identified as Jeffrey Biddle, 19, Tracey Gorringe, 20, Matthew Mowen, 19, and Peter Talamantez, 17.

According to the statements of Smith and Young, the four were killed because they knew Johnson and the fourth man and might have retaliated for the robbery.

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