Suspect linked to two attacks

Jace Radke

Monday, Dec. 20, 1999 | 11:51 a.m.

An 87-year-old woman believed to have been beaten and robbed by the same man accused in last week's slaying of a 79-year-old Las Vegas woman has been released from University Medical Center.

Metro Police suspect the 87-year-old was injured by Anthony "Tony" Dotson, 41, Friday afternoon as he took her car and purse in the UMC parking lot.

Police have been searching for Dotson in connection with the bludgeoning death of Doris Bair, who was found dead in her house in the 1400 block of Bracken Avenue.

Dotson, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for a 1987 robbery conviction in Los Angeles County, was arrested at around 5 p.m. Friday at a vacant house west of downtown near UMC, Metro homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen said.

Dotson now faces charges of murder, robbery, burglary and kidnapping all with a victim over 65 years old.

Petersen said Dotson, a native Californian, had been working as a temporary laborer renovating the vacant house. The 87-year-old woman's stolen car and purse were in Dotson's possession when police arrested him.

Police began searching for Dotson on Dec. 14 in connection with Bair's death. Bair's next-door neighbors called police on Dec. 13 when they hadn't seen her for a couple of days. Police found Bair dead on the floor of the house she had lived in for 50 years.

An autopsy determined Bair died from several blows to the head and most likely died on Dec. 12. Several items were taken from her home including her car. Police found her car, a 1991 white Mercury, in the downtown area on Dec. 13.

Detectives found signs of a struggle inside Bair's home, but no signs of how the killer got into the house.

Bair called police on Dec. 10 reporting a prowler. A man apparently rang her door bell. When she didn't open the door the man went to the back door and knocked. A few moments later the lights in her house went off.

A Metro officer found the circuit breakers had been switched off.