Man pleads innocent in prostitute death

Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000 | 1:35 a.m.

A Las Vegas man pleaded innocent Tuesday to the throat-slashing death of a prostitute.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure set Ronald Collins' trial for Aug. 7.

Prosecutors are scheduled to decide by March 20 if they intend to seek the death penalty for Collins, who is charged with murder in the death of Agnes K. Ready, 37.

According to testimony, Collins' wife, Melanie Collins, walked into her kitchen early Jan. 11 and found a bloody body covered with a blanket.

Metro homicide detectives said she screamed, thinking it was her husband, but then Ronald Collins, 30, came out from underneath the blanket. Both he and the victim were naked and covered in blood.

An autopsy revealed that Ready suffered from numerous cuts and stab wounds and that she died from a slashed throat.

Melanie Collins told police she had left home with her son on Jan. 10 because her husband was drunk and she feared for her safety. She found the body when she returned home the next morning.

Police arrested Collins after a four-hour standoff. SWAT officers found him hiding in an air-conditioning duct in the attic. Two hunting knives were found inside Collins' pickup.