Buried body is found in Vegas back yard

Jen Lawson

Monday, July 21, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.

Metro Police arrested a man on murder charges this morning after a human hand was found sticking out of the back yard of a home he rents in the John S. Park Historic District near downtown Las Vegas.

The man who was arrested was one of two people who were renting the home in the 1200 block of Eighth Place, police said. The other renter has been accounted for, Sgt. Mike Thompson said.

The investigation began after someone whom police would not identify flagged down a patrol officer near the home about 3:30 a.m. and told the officer there was a hand sticking up out of the ground behind the home.

Detectives made the arrest after serving a search warrant at the house.

Police and crime scene analysts are to spend the most of the day digging up the body, Thompson said. The exhumation will be conducted carefully to try to preserve any evidence.

"We're treating it as an archaeological dig," Thompson said.

The person appears to have been dead "for some time" and probably was buried in the back yard more than a few days ago, Thompson said.

Marie Johnson, a 56-year resident of the neighborhood, said the home where the body was found this morning is owned by a woman named Anna. She had two renters in the home, Johnson said.

Johnson said she last talked to Anna on the street outside her home a week or two ago. Johnson also said she asked police this morning if Anna was OK, and she said they told her she was.

According to Clark County assessor records, the four-bedroom home belongs to 36-year-old Anna Linda Mitchel. Mitchel could not be reached for comment this morning.

Except for saying that the person arrested is being charged with murder, police refused additional comment about the arrestee or the body.

"We're still in the very early stages of the investigation," Thompson said this morning.

Neighbors said they often noticed many people coming and going at the house. The activity at the house stood out because most of the people who live in the neighborhood are retirees who are longtime residents, like Johnson, neighbors said.

Johnson awoke at 5 a.m. today and was startled to see police cars on her block and the street cordoned off with police tape, she said.

"It's very difficult to imagine this happening in this neighborhood," she said. "It is such a quiet neighborhood, it's unbelievable."

Johnson said "there's hardly been a robbery" in all the years she has lived in the neighborhood.

Hector Sabillon, who lives two doors down from the house where the body was found, said he was shocked to learn that a body was buried so close to his house.

"It's surprising because this is a very nice area," he said as he stood on this front porch. "I'm really, really surprised this is happening."

Thompson said it was "pretty unusual" to have a body buried in a back yard in Las Vegas.

"We only have to deal with, at most, a couple of buried-body cases a year," Thompson said.