Rope a key in double slayings

Kim Smith

Monday, July 29, 2002 | 9:19 a.m.

The rope used to bind two murder victims has been linked to a Las Vegas man accused in the killings, according to testimony given during his preliminary hearing Friday.

Nicholas Felix, 20, along with Eduvijes Pena, 19, and Manuel Orta, 20, has been charged with open murder in the deaths of Cleofas Martinez, 17, and Julio Cano, 19.

The bodies were found by a newspaper delivery man in the early morning hours of April 22 near Hammer and Auto streets near Craig Road and Lamb Boulevard.

An autopsy revealed the young men died as a result of asphyxiation.

Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo was expected to decide today if there is enough evidence to try the men. Abbatangelo began hearing evidence during the preliminary hearing on Friday.

Eric Casimiro testified that Felix borrowed tape and a red and black rope from him in late April. A few days later, he caught a glimpse of something odd inside a bedroom in Felix's apartment, he said during the hearing.

"What I saw was two persons, one on top of the other from the legs down only," Casimiro said through a Spanish-speaking interpreter.

Felix or Pena shut the door quickly and told him to come back later, Casimiro said.

Clark County Deputy Medical Examiner Gary Telgenhoff testified that the bodies were found bound with orange and black rope tied in a complicated series of knots 24 to 36 hours after they died.

Although both victims had cocaine and methamphetamine in their systems, Telgenhoff said he believes the men died because of a lack of oxygen to the brain. The doctor said he could not determine if the men drowned, were strangled or were suffocated.

Telgenhoff acknowledged under cross-examination that he only came to the asphyxia conclusion after speaking with detectives over the course of several weeks.

According to police reports, Pena told police the victims were tied up and interrogated about double crossing someone in a drug deal.

Although he said he didn't go with them, Orta told police he believes the victims were drowned in "the lake" after being taken out of the apartment in pieces of luggage.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Ed Kane said the district attorney's office is to decide within the next few weeks if the death penalty will be sought in the event of a conviction.