Henderson police await extradition of slaying suspect

Keith Paul

Wednesday, May 15, 2002 | 11:03 a.m.

Shao Lei Liu suspected what her fate may be when she left work early one morning in February, so she made sure that someone knew who she was going to see.

The 37-year-old Liu left her job at the Gold Strike casino in Jean early Feb. 7 to meet her estranged husband, David P. Ruffa, with whom she not only had a contentious separation since she left him in December, but also a bitter child custody fight.

"If anything happens to me and I come up missing," she told her supervisor before leaving, "David is the last person that I was with."

Nearly three months after her body was found in her car in a Henderson neighborhood on Feb. 17, detectives have sifted through various lies and fabricated alibis to determine what they believe happened -- Ruffa met his wife as planned, strangled her and then tried to set her body on fire inside her car, according to a police report released Tuesday.

On Saturday Ruffa was arrested in Frostburg, Md., on a warrant charging him with murder, kidnapping and arson. He waived extradition and will be transported back to Henderson.

Liu apparently believed she might meet a violent end in her three-year marriage. More than once she asked her sister and brother-in-law, Shao Ru and Scott Garner, to raise her 2-year-old son, Sean Ruffa, if anything happened to her.

"My sister gave him many, many chances in the past three years," Shao Ru Garner said. "She gave him a chance to meet with her and that was a fatal mistake."

Liu left the Gold Strike Feb. 7 about 12:30 a.m. as she did every night after her shift. She told her supervisor she was going to the Joker's Wild casino in Henderson to meet Ruffa.

When she didn't return home, her father reported her missing.

For days police searched for Liu, who had a temporary protection order against Ruffa. Investigators talked with Ruffa several times. Each time he gave the same story: He was out of work and staying with his parents in their recreational vehicle. He slept in the top bunk and was there all night long and never set up a meeting with his estranged wife, according to a police report.

Ruffa told police several times he was in his parents' RV the night of Feb. 6 into Feb. 7 and never left. His parents were "very boisterous that Ruffa did not leave the RV on the night of (Feb. 6) and that there was no way the Ruffa was able to get the keys to the Oldsmobile and sneak out," the report states.

While his parents continued to maintain Ruffa was living with them, detectives were led to a Las Vegas couple that others says was letting Ruffa stay on their sofa.

Amy Daneman-Trujillo and Samuel Sandilla told police on Feb. 19 that Ruffa has stayed with them every night for about a month. Daneman-Trujillo told police that Ruffa talked with someone she assumed was his estranged wife on Feb. 6.

"Amy said that he was talking about the divorce. Amy said Ruffa was saying, 'let's not do a divorce,' " according to the report. "Ruffa was crying and pleading with the person on the other end of the phone 'you just have to meet me.' "

Ruffa then told Daneman-Trujillo that he was going to meet his wife at the Joker's Wild casino. He did not return until about 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 7 and when asked if he saw his wife, he said she didn't show up, the report states.

When confronted with the allegation he planned to meet his wife on the night of Feb. 6, Ruffa told police, "I can't say." When pressed he called it a "memory lapse."

On Feb. 17 police were called to Spague Street near Boulder Highway where Liu's Chevrolet Blazer was found. A fire had been started on the floorboard, but burned out before considerable damage had been done. Inside was Liu's body and red plastic gas can, police said.

Police tracked the can to a gas station where a cashier remembered a man, matching Ruff's description buying the can and gas the night of Liu's disappearance, according to the report.

As police continued to talk with people who knew Ruffa, detectives found several people who gave similar versions of conversations with him. According to the police report, several people said Ruffa had planned to ask someone "to kidnap his son so that his wife would not have the son anymore."

Police say one woman, who has known Ruffa off and on for about 15, called detectives saying Ruffa had told her of his plan to kidnap his son and said "he knew a guy that would do it and kill her too."

In an attempt to gain custody of his son, Ruffa accused his father-in-law of abusing Sean Ruffa. Child Protective Services investigated the allegations and found no evidence to support his charges, according to Family Court records.

Before her death Liu fought for sole custody of her son and convinced a judge to order only supervised visits for Ruffa with the boy.

Liu's sister and brother-in-law are now continuing the custody fight against Ruffa.

"My wife and I are currently trying to keep custody of Sean. We go to court on (May) 24th and we are trying to get," said Scott Garner, who has gone through tragedy in the past.

His son 14-year-old son Scott Garner Jr., was one of the six teenagers killed by Jessica Williams on March 19, 2000, when her minivan drifted off Interstate 15 and struck the group as they were picking trash off the side of the road. Williams was convicted in connection with the crash and is serving a prison term of 18 to 48 years.

Shao Ru Garner says she'll never know why her sister apparently agreed to meet with Ruffa that night.

"That is a mystery to me," she said. "He sent her love letters saying how he was sorry and how wonderful she is. It was his birthday on Feb. 6 and maybe that's why.

"My sister cannot defend herself anymore. He will lie and say all kinds of things about her to defend himself," Shao Ru Garner said.