Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

News briefs for April 26, 2004

Man found stabbed to death

A 32-year-old man died Saturday after being stabbed at a Las Vegas apartment complex. Residents of the complex, who described the man as friendly, followed a suspect until Metro Police arrived and arrested him.

About 8:20 p.m. Saturday, police received several 911 calls reporting a stabbing. When patrol officers arrived, they found Troy W. Payton with a large chest wound lying on the sidewalk outside the Sunrise Vista Executive Suites in the 3800 block of East Charleston Boulevard.

Paramedics arrived and pronounced Payton dead.

Police were directed by neighbors to a convenience store a block from the apartments, where a man was taken into custody, police said.

Abimael Azmitia, 24, was arrested for murder with the use of a deadly weapon, police said.

Homicide detectives learned that the stabbing was the result of a dispute between the neighbors.

Payton had approached the suspect after learning that the man had made offensive remarks and gestures to a 15-year-old girl.

The argument started out with pushing and shoving, but ended in the fatal stabbing, police said.

Death of diabetic girl called homicide

The Clark County coroner on Friday ruled that the death of an 11-year-old Las Vegas girl who suffered from Type 1 juvenile diabetes was a homicide.

Ariel Botzet died Feb. 6 from complications of the disease, which requires continued treatment, Clark County Coroner Michael Murphy said. Without the treatment, which requires a strict diet and prescription drug regimen, a patient can become ill or die, he added.

The complication that killed Botzet -- keto acidosis -- was ruled a result of medical neglect, Murphy said.

The coroner's office defines a homicide as a death at the hands of a person.

Personnel at the district attorney's office said this morning that the office has not yet received the case from investigators so they do not know what, if any, charges will be filed or against whom.

Slaying suspect makes plea deal

A second alleged gang member accused of killing two men in a 2002 drive-by shooting entered a plea agreement with prosecutors Friday.

Darrin Lay, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter with use of a deadly weapon in promotion of a criminal gang during a pretrial hearing.

Lay's co-defendant in the case, Lawrence Doyle, 23, made the same deal Thursday before District Judge Kathy Hardcastle.

The shooting left Thomas Sterling and Reginald Slaughter dead.

All other charges connected to the Aug. 2, 2002, drive-by shooting in North Las Vegas were dropped, Deputy District Attorney Roger Cram said Friday.

"Gang cases are inherently difficult cases to litigate because witnesses are not willing to come forward and say what they saw," Cram said.

Cram said he could not comment further because he is in negotiations with a third co-defendant, Chester Lee Henry, Jr., who is scheduled for trial on May 10.

Henry is believed to be a conspirator in the killings, Cram said.

Lay and Doyle each face stretches of two to 15 years in prison when sentenced in June.

A 35-year-old man who shot

his wife and then killed himself Thursday has been identified by the coroner's office as Shane Douglas Christensen. His wife, who died several hours later at University Medical Center, is identified as Cynamon Christensen, 30.

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