Officials baffled by body at Timet

Jen Lawson

Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2003 | 11:21 a.m.

The Titanium Metals Corp. plant in Henderson is protected by security checkpoints, around-the-clock guards, surveillance cameras and an 8-foot tall fence topped with razor wire.

Despite all this security, a 33-year-old woman with no connection to the plant managed to get onto the property, where she was found dead Monday in a storage facility.

The Clark County Coroner's Office identified her this morning as Stacey Kaplan of Las Vegas.

Metro Police are treating the death as a homicide until an autopsy reveals the cause of death, Metro Homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said.

"It's odd. It's curious. But we haven't ruled out anything," Monahan said. "There was no visible trauma, and that's part of the problem."

A supervisor found Kaplan's body at about 7 a.m. in a building used to store sand, which is a key ingredient in the manufacturing of titanium. It appeared the woman had been there "for hours, not days," Monahan said.

Kaplan had no possessions with her, Monahan said. It is possible she could have been homeless.

Police and Timet officials are baffled as to how Kaplan got onto the property undetected. They also do not know why she was there.

"She was not an employee, not a contractor and not a guest," said Craig Wilkinson, manager of Timet's health, safety and environmental affairs. "She had no authority to be in our facility, and I don't know why she'd be there. It's hard to speculate."

The storage facility where she was found contained beach sand from Australia, which Timet uses to make titanium for the aerospace industry.

Security guards are on duty at the plant at all times, Wilkinson said. Guards are at the main gate, and two guards patrol the grounds. Surveillance cameras are throughout the property, and a razor-wired fence surrounds the perimeter of the plant.

All 410 employees and guests must wear hard hats, safety glasses and steel toe shoes before entering the plant, Wilkinson said, and they must also receive safety instructions.

The dead woman was not equipped with any safety gear, he said. Investigators are looking into whether that could have contributed to her death.

"We work very hard at maintaining a high level of security, but as in every facility, there are vulnerabilities," Wilkinson said.

Plant officials plan to do an assessment of the facility to see how security can be beefed up. Timet has been in the Las Vegas Valley for more than 50 years, and no one has ever snuck onto the property and died, he said.

"It's caught us off guard," Wilkinson said. "We need to step back and take another look at how we can improve."