Trial set in case of man stabbed with kitchen knife

Tuesday, May 25, 1999 | 10:51 a.m.

A North Las Vegas man accused of stabbing his cousin through hisskull with a kitchen knife will face an Oct. 11 murder trial.

District Judge Kathy Hardcastle set the trial date for Daniel Vallejo-Morales, who is being held without bail on first-degree murder charges in connection with the Aug. 21, 1998, incident. The matter was continued last week so that Vallejo-Morales could consider a plea bargain offer.

He is accused of killing Primitivo Vallejo after Vallejo allegedly threatened Vallejo-Morales for tearing some of his papers and called defendant's mother a derogatory name.

Vallejo was stabbed once in the skull as he slept in the 2111 Crawford Ave. apartment he shared with six relatives, including Vallejo-Morales.

North Las Vegas Police say they have a videotaped confession of Vallejo-Morales admitting through an interpreter that he killed his cousin, according to court records.

The incident occurred at 11:30 p.m., two hours after the residents of the apartment said they went to bed, court records say.

Sergio Vallejo, Daniel's brother, told police that he awoke to a gurgling noise coming from the room that he and Primitivo shared. He saw Primitivo bleeding from the nose and mouth but did not notice a deep stab wound near his left temple, according to court records.

Police found no signs of forced entry into the apartment and figured that one of the residents had to have committed the crime, though no one was immediately arrested after questioning.

Police recovered from the apartment a kitchen knife still wet from a recent washing.

Later, an informant said he had a conversation with Sergio who quoted Sergio as saying he believed that Daniel had killed Primitivo "because they had a history of arguments over Daniel stealing money from Primitivo and because Daniel was acting strange since the murder and was talking about going back to Mexico," according to court records.

Sergio and Daniel were again taken in for questioning where police say Daniel confessed to the killing, according to court records. Daniel said Primitivo had threatened to kill him because Daniel had torn up some of his documents two days before the slaying and that Primitivo had called Daniel's mother a derogatory name, according to court records.

Sergio Vallejo is scheduled to appear as a witness against his brother, court records show.

Following a Sept. 18, 1998, preliminary hearing, North Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Stephen Dahl found there was enough evidence to bind the case over for trial.