Police say suspect left fingerprints

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2003 | 11 a.m.

The 15-year-old boy arrested in connection with the stabbing death of a man in a northwest Las Vegas home entered the house through a downstairs bathroom window, leaving fingerprints and sneaker marks that led to his arrest, according to a police arrest report.

Mark Ford used to live in the gated community of Wellington Park, near Grand Canyon Drive and Sahara Avenue, where the attack occurred.

About 3 p.m. Monday, Metro Police 911 operators received a call from Vincent Gomes, 56, who said someone had broken into his house and stabbed him, then the line went dead. The operator called back and the line was busy, the report states.

Two minutes later the operator got through to Gomes. He said the person who had broken in was a boy.

"He then said he was going fast," the report states. Gomes stopped answering the operator's questions.

The first patrol officer to arrive at Gomes' home found him lying in a pool of blood with a stab wound in his neck. Paramedics tried to revive him, but they couldn't.

Detectives noticed that the screen was off a downstairs bathroom window, and they lifted fingerprints. Detectives also found shoe impressions in the dirt on the bathroom wall and on the kitchen tile.

Police spoke to a neighbor who said he saw a person walking from the back yard of a nearby house. Other neighbors said a boy named Mark Ford used to live at that house.

Lewis said a boy sitting on a black moped-style scooter on a sidewalk near the victim's home said he was "Matt from New York" and asked Lewis what time it was. It was 2:40 p.m., Lewis said.

A patrol officer found a boy who matched the description provided by neighbors about 5:45 p.m. He said his name was Mark Ford, the report states.

Detectives took Ford to Metro's homicide office, where they read him his rights. Ford denied having been in the victim's house or in the neighborhood. He also denied killing Gomes, the report states.

Ford allowed investigators to take swabs for DNA testing. His mother arrived at the homicide office, and both said they would allow detectives to impound Ford's clothing, obtain fingerprints and photograph him.

Investigators compared Ford's prints with the prints lifted from the bathroom window and determined they matched. The shoe prints were similar to Ford's tennis shoes.

Detectives went to Ford's home about 1:30 a.m. and arrested him on charges of murder and burglary. He was booked into Clark County Detention Center, where he is awaiting a court date.