Psychiatric evaluation ordered for double homicide suspect

Bill Gang

Thursday, April 8, 1999 | 11:04 a.m.

The Justice Court arraignment of 20-year-old Ronald Calvin on murder charges in the slayings of two Las Vegas women, including his 72-year-old grandmother, has been postponed until May 7 to allow time for a psychiatric examination.

Calvin is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Diane L. Paynes, 58, and Evangeline C. Lee, 72, whose bodies were found March 23 in the Las Vegas apartment they shared with Calvin. Both victims, who had not been seen alive for three days, died of multiple stab wounds.

Calvin was returned to Las Vegas following his arrest March 26 at a Fresno, Calif., hospital, where he was being treated for a knife cut on his hand. Earlier that day, his grandmother's car was recovered from a Fresno residential area.

Metro Police actually stopped Calvin the night before the bodies were found on a routine stop. Police were concerned because of fresh blood on his hands and scratches on his face.

Officers ran a computer check on the 1989 Chevrolet and learned it was owned by Calvin's grandmother, but the address in the computer was an old one and the defendant was released for lack of evidence of a crime.