Trial begins in slashing death of North Las Vegas woman

Kim Smith

Monday, Jan. 14, 2002 | 9:57 a.m.

Jury selection was scheduled to begin today for a homeless man accused of slashing the throat of a North Las Vegas woman during a robbery.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Troy Schnabl, 45, could receive a life sentence with or without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors believe Tiffany Averill, 67, was slain after she allowed Schnabl, Robert Whitesell, 33, and Ernest Valezquez into her home last January.

Schnabl knew Averill and her husband, having lived with them at a prior address and having helped them move into their new home on North Lamb Boulevard.

Police think that once they were inside the home, Whitesell and Schnabl took Averill into her bedroom and one of them slashed her throat. Afterward the three men ransacked the place, stealing an unopened bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey and a fake bomb.

The men were arrested when the fake bomb was found at a homeless shelter in March, and Averill's husband, former constable Herbert "Russ" Averill, recognized its description.

During a preliminary hearing in March, Russ Averill, who was in the hospital at the time of the slaying, speculated the thieves may have been after his gun collection.

Whitesell is scheduled to go to trial immediately after Schnabl. Valezquez entered a plea agreement in July and was sentenced to four to 10 years in prison.

A jury was also scheduled to be picked today in the trial of Martha Flores, 27, who is accused of beating to death her 5-year-old stepdaughter, Zoraida, last year.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure ruled Friday that Flores' own daughter, 6-year-old Sylvia Deande, will not have to take the stand during the trial. The child, who allegedly witnessed the incident, was too emotional during a hearing Friday to discuss the alleged incident.

Instead, a statement the girl made to the police will be read to the jury.

Also on Friday Ronald Mulder, 45, entered a plea agreement in the May death of Charles T. Whittaker, 51.

Mulder admitted prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him of first-degree murder in order to avoid a possible no-parole life sentence. As a result of his guilty plea, Mulder will be given a 20-year to life sentence on Feb. 25.

Prosecutors allege Mulder, a homeless man, struck Whittaker, another homeless man, with a liquor bottle and then poured a flammable liquid on Whittaker and set him on fire.

Authorities suspect the men may have been arguing over a bottle of whiskey.