Suspect in killing, high-speed chase indicted

Monday, May 21, 2001 | 10:22 a.m.

A man charged with running down a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper and beating and strangling a woman to death has been indicted on multiple charges, including murder.

Vornelius Phillips, 25, also faces charges of attempted murder, robbery, kidnapping and battery, according to an indictment unsealed Friday.

The district attorney's office is seeking the death penalty, said Deputy District Attorney David Schwartz, citing at least four aggravating circumstances.

Schwartz said the suspect was on parole, he had been convicted previously of a violent crime, he allegedly committed a felony theft during the murder and he fled to avoid arrest. The DA's office needs to prove just one aggravating circumstance to secure the death penalty.

Ivy Jean Miller, 40, was found dead on the morning of April 21 in her room at the Budget Suites on Stardust Road. DNA tests showed that blood on Phillips' clothes was Miller's, Metro Police said.

Later that morning Phillips allegedly led police on a high-speed chase that ended with Trooper Robert Kintzel being hit by the suspect vehicle, police said.

Kintzel was hit as he was placing metal spikes to puncture the tires of the fleeing vehicle on U.S. 95 near Flamingo Road. Kintzel remains in critical condition at University Medical Center.

Police said the chase started with Phillips stealing a cab from McCarran International Airport with 59-year-old Joan Lewis, a tourist from Maryland, inside.

Lewis managed to jump from the moving cab, causing herself serious injuries. She was released from UMC last week and has been transferred to a hospital in Baltimore.