Slaying points to risks of rural life

Kim Smith

Thursday, Nov. 1, 2001 | 9:55 a.m.

The death of a Sandy Valley woman in September illustrates the risks of living in a rural community, where many people move to get away from the dangers of urban life, police and domestic violence experts say.

Eldona Huston, 80, was shot to death in her home Sept. 24 after calling 911 and talking to a police dispatcher for 20 minutes -- much of that time with a gun pointed at her -- while waiting for an officer to respond.

A Metro Police officer arrived 10 minutes later, and her 81-year-old husband was arrested.

The long response time was due largely to the remote location of Huston's house. Sandy Valley is about 50 miles south of Las Vegas in an area patrolled by eight officers who live and work in the vicinity, Metro Sgt. Chris Darcy said.

The unit -- seven patrol officers and a sergeant -- also is responsible for calls in Primm, Jean, Goodsprings and the Southern Highlands development, an area of roughly 200 square miles.

What happened the night Huston died was an "aberration," Darcy said.

Only two officers of the rural Metro unit were on duty that night, and they were in Primm, about a 30-mile drive, when Huston's call came in.

Metro Officer Ken Frost received the call at home that an elderly Sandy Valley woman was being held at gunpoint by her husband. It was Frost's day off.

Frost got dressed and sped out to the home of Fred and Eldona Huston, but by the time he arrived -- 30 minutes later -- Eldona Huston had already been dead for at least 10 minutes.

In fact, Frost had to wait another 10 minutes to arrest Fred Huston. Because he was alone with an armed suspect, he had to wait for backup officers.

"Generally, the number of officers is ample, because it's not a very high call area," Darcy said. "Sandy Valley has under 3,000 residents, and there are many nights where we don't get any calls at all for a long period of time."

The events of Sept. 24 were revealed during Fred Huston's preliminary hearing in Goodsprings Justice Court Tuesday. He was bound over for trial on an open murder charge by Justice of the Peace Dawn Haviland.

Lisa Lynn Chapman, public information specialist for Safe Nest, a shelter for domestic violence victims, agreed that living in a rural area often results in a delayed emergency response time.

"It's very distressing to us that it took that long when someone is on the phone saying they are in fear of their life," Chapman said.

Chapman said that Metro has made "great strides" in dealing with the victims of domestic violence, but clearly something needs to be done in the Sandy Valley area.

"I hope that because of this, they will take a look and make some decisions" to speed up response times, Chapman said.