Witness: Suspect talked about murder for hire

Keith Paul

Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2002 | 11:35 a.m.

John Brian Ray, arrested last week in the slaying of his brother-in-law, allegedly told two people he was going to do the killing for insurance money and even said how he was going to spend his cut, according to a police affidavit.

Ray, 36, was to be arraigned in Justice Court this morning on a murder charge in connection with the suffocation death of his brother-in-law.

Richard C. Carno, 36, on Jan. 31 was found dead in his Ford Escort a day after his wife, Susanne, reported him missing. A bag and rope had been wrapped around his head. The car was parked in the 3900 block of Las Vegas Boulevard North near the trailer park where Ray had been staying.

According to a police declaration filed in Justice Court in support of the arrest, trailer park resident James Walsh told Metro Police detectives he "let a guy named John stay at the trailer for several weeks, and that he started talking that he's got to do a job for his sister, a murder for hire, and he was gonna make $50,000 in insurance money by killing his brother-in-law."

Susanne Carno said she didn't know anything about the allegations attributed to her brother.

"I can't understand why he would do such a thing," Susanne Carno said when reached at her home Tuesday. "I find it hard to even believe my brother would do this."

She said she didn't want to talk about her husband's death. Ray, who is being held in the Clark County jail, declined an interview request.

Detectives are checking into the allegations, but the only person charged in connection with Carno's death is Ray, said Lt. Tom Monahan of Metro's homicide unit.

"We are checking into it. We would be derelict in our duties if we ignored it," he said. "We are investigating to determine if there is any substance or truth to this."

Police found that Richard and Susanne Carno each took out $500,000 life insurance policies in August, according to a declaration of arrest filed in court.

Detectives talked with one of Carno's co-workers, who said Carno "was complaining about his wife wanting him to get some more insurance on his life, $500,000 worth, and he was upset because they were having money problems to begin with," according to the report.

Another resident of the Comstock Trailer Park on Las Vegas Boulevard North near where Carno's car and body were found told detectives Ray also mentioned the insurance money.

Aleksey Esmailov said he was in Walsh's trailer about a month ago using the phone when Ray, who came out of the back bedroom, received a cell phone call.

"He hung up the phone and said that his sister wants him to do a job for her and get a large sum of insurance money," according to the court records. "With the money, he planned to open a bar in Montana with pool tables."

Susanne Carno reported her husband missing Jan. 30 when he didn't show up for work. She told police she drove the route her husband took to work to determine whether he had broken down; she didn't see his car.

She said her husband didn't get into fights with family members or anyone else, according to the court records.

"Richard will walk away before he fights with anyone, and the only person that he doesn't get along with or the only enemy that he has 'is my brother Brian,"' Detective John Mikalonis detailed in his report of the interview with Susanne Carno.

Susanne Carno said, "My brother thought that my husband was gay because he does the laundry for me," according to the report.

Susanne Carno said her brother visited on Jan. 30, the day she reported Carno missing. She said after telling him what was going on, he said he was "sorry" to hear her husband was dead, using a homosexual slur to describe him.

"I'm like, 'He's not dead, he's just missing,' " Susanne Carno told detectives.

The next day, about 7:54 a.m., Carno was found in the green Escort.

Carno's car was seen Jan. 30 in the Comstock Trailer Park next to a vacant trailer, and a resident told detectives she thought someone was sleeping inside. When she became concerned about the car and contacted the office to have it moved, Ray came by and told her that he would be moving the car, according to the court records.

A few hours later the car was moved and parked next to Walsh's trailer, according to the report."