Man suspected in killing of brother-in-law faces trial

Kim Smith

Monday, April 1, 2002 | 9:12 a.m.

A Las Vegas man accused of killing his brother-in-law in January will be arraigned later this month on an open murder charge.

Justice of the Peace Jennifer Togliatti found Friday that there is enough evidence to try John Brian Ray, 36, in the death of Richard Carno, 36.

Ray will be arraigned by District Judge Joseph Bonaventure April 17.

Carno's body was found inside his car outside the Comstock Trailer Park on Las Vegas Boulevard North on Jan. 31, one day after his wife, Susanne, reported him missing after he didn't show up for work.

A black plastic trash bag with slits for eyes, duct tape and rope were found lying across Carno's chest. Forensic pathologist Rexene Worrell testified Friday she believed Carno died as a result of asphyxia due to strangulation or suffocation.

A Metro homicide detective said he believed Carno was killed late in the afternoon the day he disappeared, and a handful of witnesses testified they saw Ray or a man matching his description with Carno or his car around that time at the trailer park.

Both Chris Newman and a 15-year-old resident of the park said they saw a man jogging down a road in the trailer park between 4 and 6 p.m. Jan. 30. Five minutes later, they said they saw a shorter man escorting him back.

Newman identified the shorter man as Ray, but the boy could not.

The teenager said the hands of the taller of the two men were bound and he had duct tape around each of his ankles. When the two men arrived at one of the trailers, the boy said, the shorter man called to someone inside the trailer.

"He said 'Give me my handcuffs,' " the boy said.

The teen said he later saw the taller man being placed inside a car by the shorter man.

Several witnesses identified the car as the same one in which Carno's body was found.

Also testifying Friday was James Walsh, a trailer park resident who claims Ray told him in December he was going to receive $50,000 from Susanne Carno for killing Richard Carno.

Susanne Carno, who had been married to Richard Carno four years, acknowledged that she is a suspect in the case.

She and her husband had taken out $500,000 life insurance policies on each other five months before the slaying, she said. Less expensive policies would not pay off their home, she explained.