Columnist Sandra Thompson: Stormy relationship ends in homicide

Sandra Thompson

Sunday, Jan. 23, 2000 | 9:07 a.m.

Sandra Thompson is vice president/associate editor of the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-4025 or through e-mail at thompson@lasvegassun.com.

Last July Tamara Thiros obtained a temporary protection order against Leonard Gregory Soto after another in a series of physical altercations throughout their 10-year on-again, off-again relationship.

One month later that order was in Soto's pocket as he stood over Tamara's body in the bedroom of her condo.

"He killed her," Gus Thiros, Tamara's father, says. "He had kicked her in the stomach and back. She died of a ruptured bowel."

Tamara, 53, had a stormy relationship with Soto. According to several accounts, many of their arguments occurred when they were drinking. Gus says she had called 911 numerous times.

Tamara was under medical care and was seeing a psychiatrist. Gus says she suffered from depression and panic attacks. She couldn't work. Gus and his wife, Virginia, provided the condo where she lived -- and died.

Gus will never forget that day. It was 6 a.m. on a Sunday when he received a call from Soto, who said he was at Tamara's condo and she wasn't breathing. Gus immediately wondered why he was there since Tamara had a TPO. Instead, he asked, "Did you call 911?" Soto said no. Gus told him to do so and he raced to the nearby condo.

When Gus arrived, Tamara was nude from the waist up, lying on the floor by the bed. He says Soto was talking on the phone and pushing on her chest as if he were trying to revive her. When the paramedics arrived, they found no signs of life in Tamara. The coroner was called, and she was pronounced dead.

According to a police report, a friend said Tamara had told her a few days before her death that Soto kicked her in the stomach and in the back and slammed her head against the wall. Since then, she had severe stomach pains and was having difficulty breathing. The friend thought she was having an anxiety attack. Instead, it was the cause of her death.

The coroner said Tamara died as a result of blunt abdominal trauma. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Soto was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, which carries either a 25-year or life prison term. He accepted a plea bargain for voluntary manslaughter, which carries a one- to 10-year sentence.

Soto, whose attorney is John Moran Jr., is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in Judge Donald Mosley's courtroom. Gus says he's concerned that recent news reports in another high-profile case about Moran and Mosley's friendship may affect the sentencing decision.

But that has no bearing on this case. It's not uncommon for attorneys who have practiced here for many years to be friends with judges. They say such relationships don't impact what happens in the courtroom.

Moran doesn't comment on cases before sentencing. Abby Silver, chief deputy district attorney in the domestic violence unit, says the judge will do the right thing.

Silver, who has handled about 10 domestic homicide cases, says the Thiros case was more difficult than others that involve gunshot or stab wounds, which is why she considers the negotiated plea a good resolution of the case.

Although initially bothered by the plea bargain, Tamara's daughter, Marlo, doesn't know if it would have been better to take the case to trial. She says juries have little compassion for domestic violence victims. Most people can't understand why a woman stays in an abusive relationship. Marlo loved her mother, but even she was frustrated by Tamara's mindset of being a victim. It's a vicious cycle, Marlo says.

In 1999 Metro Police reported 31 domestic homicides. Marlo and her grandparents want Tamara to be remembered as a kind-hearted person who was much more than a domestic violence statistic.

She enjoyed traveling and loved cats. She was an accomplished seamstress and typist and a fantastic cook.

"My mother was guilty of making bad decisions," Marlo says, "but she didn't deserve to be murdered."