Local news briefs for March 16, 2000

Thursday, March 16, 2000 | 10:24 a.m.

Cancer claims longterm inmate

Kenneth McKague, the longest-serving prison inmate on death row, died of lung cancer Wednesday at the Ely State Prison.

Prison Director Bob Bayer said McKague had been ill for a long time and had been treated at the Regional Medical Center in Carson City before being moved back to Ely. He died at 7:07 a.m. in the prison infirmary.

McKague, 46, had been on death row since Aug. 6, 1979, for the murder in Reno of motel managers William and Irene Hemry on Dec. 21, 1978, during a robbery.

Man gets life in 20-year-old crime

A California man who turned himself in on a 20-year-old unsolved murder case last fall was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday.

David Ferrell, 39, must serve at least five years before he is eligible for parole.

According to North Las Vegas Police, Ferrell was arrested in Long Beach, Calif., on Oct. 7 for public intoxication. He then told police about killing someone in North Las Vegas in 1979, and they alerted North Las Vegas authorities.

Ferrell was charged with the Nov. 21, 1979, stabbing death of Wilbert F. Wendeburg, 52, after he led detectives to the crime scene, near Civic Center Drive north of City Hall.

Police car forces vehicle off street

A Metro Police officer in a patrol car forced a fleeing car off the road as the car was heading the wrong way on Lake Mead Boulevard Wednesday.

The driver of the white Cadillac lost control of the car and hit a utility pole at the corner of Linn Lane and Lake Mead Boulevard. The three occupants of the car were taken to University Medical Center.

A 13-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy were treated at the hospital and released. An 18-year-old man was listed in serious condition, police said.

The officer, whose name was not released this morning, saw a Cadillac driving recklessly about noon Wednesday and attempted to pull the car over. The car would not stop and tried to ram the police car, investigators said.