News briefs for Sept. 16, 2002

Monday, Sept. 16, 2002 | 10:51 a.m.

Driver, 18, killed in beltway crash

An 18-year-old Las Vegas man was killed early this morning when he apparently lost control and rolled his car on the Las Vegas Beltway between Tropicana Avenue and Russell Road.

The accident happened about 1:15 a.m., when a Honda headed west on the highway at a high rate of speed hit the berm that divides the roadway, Nevada Highway Patrol officials said.

After rolling at least twice the car caught fire, NHP officials said.

The driver, David Alvarez, died at the scene. Troopers said they found marijuana in the car, and a blood test will be conducted to determine if the driver was legally impaired at the time of the accident.

Man shot to death behind wheel of car

Metro Police are investigating the slaying of a 21-year-old man apparently gunned down while behind the wheel of a car.

Police, responding late Thursday night to a report of shots fired in the 1700 block of Cordoba Lane, found Jose Alfredo Alvarado-Zuniga dead in the driver's seat of a 1997 Nissan pickup truck.

Witnesses said a white SUV was seen next to the truck. The SUV driver was seen shooting at the truck, then leaving the area, police said.

Anyone with information about the crime is urged to call Metro's Homicide Section at 229-3521 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.

Two killed in van collision

Three Pahrump senior citizens were discharged and two remained hospitalized at University Medical Center Sunday after an accident Friday that killed two other passengers in a van carrying them to a square dance, Metro Police said.

A 2000 Chrysler Voyager minivan carrying six members of the Pahrump Valley Squares dance club was turning left across traffic on Lamb Boulevard near Colorado Avenue about 7 p.m. Friday when an oncoming station wagon crashed into the van's right side, police said. The van was knocked onto its left side and then onto its roof.

Two passengers in the van, Patrick Williams, 65, and Alice Garner, 77, died of their injuries. Both were Pahrump residents.

Bobby Shields, the 21-year-old driver of the station wagon, suffered serious injuries and was discharged from UMC Sunday. Carl Spiller, 70, the driver of the van, was also discharged.

Van passenger James Laute, 73, has also been released from the hospital, while Mary Spiller, 69, and Denise Williams, 54, remain hospitalized in serious and fair conditions respectively.

Metro traffic officers said the accident is still under investigation, but they said the driver of the minivan appeared to have made an improper turn.

Woman found dead is ID'd

A woman who appears to have been the victim in a murder-suicide has been identified as Annette P. Layton, 49, of Las Vegas.

Metro Police were called Thursday to a house in the 5200 block of Morris Street, near Tropicana Avenue and Nellis Boulevard, after Layton failed to arrive at work.

Police found both Layton and William Charles Ancell, 46, dead in the home. Evidence indicates that the incident was a murder-suicide, Metro Homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said. It appears that the man shot the woman before turning the gun on himself, investigators said.