Girlfriend charged in fatal car jacking

Wednesday, Aug. 18, 1999 | 10:56 a.m.

The girlfriend of a 20-year-old man killed during a car jacking has been arrested and charged with two counts of murder.

Metro Police homicide Sgt. Kevin Manning said Jamie Aghas, 18, an entertainer at an area topless club, was arrested Monday.

Jeremy Michael Butler died Friday night after a stolen BMW he was driving raced through a red light at the intersection of Charleston Boulevard and Hualapai Way, striking a motorcycle driven by Phillip D. Gastineau before hitting a light pole.

Gastineau, 41, a credit union loan officer, and Butler, who was unemployed, died at the scene.

A passenger in the BMW was shot in the left leg by the car's owner as the car jackers fled a gated community in the far western area of the valley, investigators said.

Manning said Randy Goodrick, 19, is in custody at University Medical Center, where he is in good condition. Goodrick has been charged with two counts of murder and faces charges of attempted kidnapping with a weapon, home invasion and robbery.

Manning said Aghas, Goodrick and Butler drove to an affluent area of the valley with the apparent intention of hijacking a car.

He said it was purely a random choice on their part to follow a BMW into a gated community, where they attempted to abduct the car owner and steal his vehicle at gunpoint.

"They happened to be out capering and saw him pull into the complex. They knew they were in an area of town with upscale homes. They came to that area for that purpose," Manning said.

Manning said Aghas dropped off Butler and Goodrick.

The owner of the BMW managed to take a shotgun away from the suspects when they attempted to force him back into his car. He fired two shots at them as they drove off.

Police said the driver was struck in the left shoulder.

Manning declined to release the identity of the car's owner, a casino employee who has been in town less than a year.

Gastineau, a Tulsa, Okla., native, had been an area resident for several years.

Hites Funeral Services listed his only survivors as his parents, James and Beverly Gastineau of Tulsa.

No local services are planned for Gastineau, who will be returned to Oklahoma for burial.

Manning said Butler and Goodrick, who is not employed, are well known to local authorities.

"Randy Goodrick has had previous run-ins with law enforcement," Manning said. "He was on probation for an attempted auto theft."

He said Goodrick's record includes a number of narcotics and property crimes.

"Butler had a bunch of property type crimes out of Henderson," Manning said. "He also had some out of our jurisdiction. He had some violent offenses in the past -- battery, attempted murder."

In May 1998 Butler was sentenced to a year in the Clark County Detention Center after a plea negotiation reduced a charge of attempted murder to attempted battery with substantial bodily harm.

District Attorney Stewart Bell said the plea bargain was struck because the victim of the assault, Butler's former girlfriend, recanted her statement.

Bell said Butler's file was filled with notes by prosecutors describing Butler as dangerous.

"He had a long juvenile history which involved violence," he said. "It was clear to us his actions continued to be in conformity with his history."