Questions still haunt family of slain Henderson teenager

Keith Paul

Wednesday, May 24, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

While one question was answered when skeletal remains were identified as 14-year-old Michael Rainey, the question that continues to frustrate his parents nearly a year later is who killed him.

Ken Rainey said Tuesday he is putting up $3,000 of his own money as a reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the slaying of his son.

"In a way it's been more of a torture because we know that someone is out there free to (kill) again," Rainey said. "Some other family is at risk to go through what we have gone through. We want this person caught."

Ken and Susan Rainey have been disturbed by lingering questions since 3 p.m. on Aug. 20, 1996, when their son left the house for a walk to cool down after an argument with his mother. They never saw him again.

Over the next 2 1/2 years, Ken Rainey put about 200,000 miles on his Toyota Celica looking for his boy who he thought had run away.

"I didn't feel right about asking people to look for my son if I wasn't out there doing something to find him," Rainey said.

In November 1996 skeletal remains were found in a desert area off Lake Mead Boulevard between Sunrise Mountain and Lake Mead. The person had been shot to death.

The remains went unidentified until a computerized drawing of the remains was broadcast on the television show "America's Most Wanted" in June 1999 and a caller said the picture looked like the missing boy from Henderson.

In August 1999, dental records proved that the remains were Michael Rainey.

"Nobody knows why this happened. I don't know what situation a 14-year-old could get in to make this happen," Rainey said.

Rainey, an electrician, says he hopes the $3,000 reward will help spur the information needed to find his son's killer or killers.

Money can sometimes be helpful in solving crimes, said Lt. Wayne Petersen of Metro Police's homicide unit.

"In some cases money does help," he said. "You would hope that people would do the right thing without being motivated by money, but in the past reward money has helped solve crimes."

Ken Rainey still thinks about his son and the desert area where his son's remains were found.

Rainey went to the spot were his son was found and became enraged. He kicked at the ground and threw rocks.

"I turned around and looked up and the sun had come up. It was the kind of area that Michael liked in life," Rainey said. "A kind of peaceful feeling settled on me."

The old Toyota Rainey drove around looking for his son is gone. The couple have two grandchildren now, but there is still lingering frustration and sadness.

"There is a hole in our lives," Rainey said. "There are other things that come fill it in, but there is still that place that should be filled by Michael."

Anyone with information on Michael Rainey's slaying is asked to call Metro's homicide unit at 229-3521 or Secret Witness at 385-5555. The $3,000 reward put up by the family is in addition to the $1,000 reward posted by Secret Witness.