Floyd hit with additional charges

Tuesday, June 8, 1999 | 11:19 a.m.

Metro Police said today that two additional attempted murder charges and four counts of sexual assault will be filed against Zane Floyd, the suspect in the shooting rampage at an Albertson's store Thursday morning.

In a press conference this morning, police said they still have no confirmed motive for the shootings that left four people dead and another man wounded. Police Sgt. Kevin Manning said there "is no reason to believe it was anything but a random act of senseless violence."

Police said that Floyd, 23, is under a suicide watch at the Clark County Detention Center.

The sexual assault charges stem from an alleged attack of an out-call escort service girl who arrived at Floyd's home at 3:30 a.m. Thursday, police said.

The office manager of Love Bound, an out-call dating service, said Monday that she believes it was an act of God that one of her workers walked away from an appointment with a man now charged with murder in the shooting spree.

"God gave her a second chance," Diane Stella said.

Killed by a lone gunman as they worked the midnight shift at Albertson's Food & Drugs at Valley View Boulevard and Sahara Avenue were Thomas Darnell, 40, Dennis Troy Sargent, 29, and Luci Tarantino, 60, all of Las Vegas, and Carlos "Chuck" Leos, 41, of Henderson.

Darnell was buried Monday. Services for Sargent are set for Wednesday in Washington state. Services for Leos will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Palm Mortuary-Eastern and for Tarantino at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Anne's Catholic Church.

A fifth shooting victim, Zachary Emenegger, 21, of Las Vegas, is listed in fair condition at University Medical Center.

Police received a 911 call from Albertson's about a possible robbery in progress at 5:16 a.m. Within two minutes patrol officers had the entry to the supermarket surrounded.

After an eight-minute stand-off, during which the suspect threatened suicide, he put down his shotgun and surrendered, police said.

Stella said the rape victim is believed to be either 19 or 20.

The girl reportedly was immediately handcuffed, her mouth taped and she was sexually assaulted after being dropped off by her driver at Floyd's home.

"I feel horrible for her," Stella said, declining to reveal her identity. "She's the sweetest girl."

She said the last time the girl saw Floyd was shortly after 5 a.m. Thursday when she was released from his residence on Oakey Boulevard and she walked west to Decatur Boulevard. Floyd walked east toward Albertson's, carrying a shotgun he had brandished when he assaulted the girl.

Stella described the girl as young and inexperienced. She said the girl started to work as an independent contractor with Love Bound in January. Her only living relative is a grandmother who lives out of state, Stella said.

"This particular girl is not a very experienced type of girl to know or to recognize things, potential danger. She's a loner, lives alone with her puppy. She's not the kind of girl who worked consistently for money, maybe once every 10 days.

"She was a sweet girl. When we sent her on a call she would be warm and charming. There were always a requests for her from her customers," Stella said.

A more experienced person might not have gotten into the dangerous situation, Stella said.

"We try to screen the clients who call in. We talk to them a few minutes, but it's hard to tell over the phone. The phone girl (who took Floyd's call) feels bad that she didn't screen him better," Stella said. "I know one thing, it's a wake-up call to a lot of dancers. Having a cell phone is mandatory to the business."

Stella said the business is one of dancing and entertainment, not prostitution.

"They are dancers and entertainers. Anything else is scandalous to them. They get a bad rap. Ninety-nine percent of the girls are nice girls, using this as a springboard to go on to college or to open up a tiny business," she said.

But Metro Police Lt. Tom Monahan, head of the sexual assault unit and a former vice officer, said Tuesday that it is a widely held belief that out-call services are frequently fronts for prostitution.

Stella said 15 girls work as independent contractors for Love Bound.

"They pay taxes. They make tips," she said.

The girl who answered the Thursday morning call was chosen at random.

Stella said the girl was to have been paid $125.

After she was released, Stella said, the girl walked to a pay phone and called the main office "screaming hysterically."

She said Floyd fired several shots into the air while the girl was being held.

"He had told her he had 19 bullets left, and he was going to kill the next 19 people he met," Stella said. "He said 'I'm a Marine, I'm trained to kill and I will kill you.'

"He started walking around in circles with a shotgun. He fired five shots into the air."

She said after the girl called the dispatcher at the office, the dispatcher called police -- a call made at the same time patrol officers were responding to the 911 call at Albertson's.

"It took her eight minutes to walk to the phone booth," Stella said.

She said the Love Bound dispatcher called police and the police wanted to talk to her, but the girl disappeared.

"At that point I never heard from the girl again till the next evening," she said. "She said something to the effect she wanted to be left alone with her dog and hung up."

Stella said the company doesn't know where the girl lives, other than it is a weekly budget suite.

Homicide Sgt. Kevin Manning says it isn't unusual for women involved in the out-call business to be reluctant to report sexual assaults.

"Generally, they feel they're not going to be taken seriously," he said.

Monahan said it is rare for an out-call girl to report a rape.

"(Rapes) happen far more frequently than reported," Monahan said.

It may be because the girls know it is a crime that is difficult to prove.

"It's not that the crime is diminished, it's that one of the essential elements of the crime is consent," Monahan said.

"In a case where there's only two people that were there, without compelling physical evidence it comes down to a he-said, she-said type of thing. Proving lack of consent becomes a real problem."