Clerk’s tip leads to arrest in kidnapping

Jen Lawson

Thursday, April 29, 2004 | 10:51 a.m.

A tip from a Vegas Motel clerk led to the arrest of a 23-year-old man who Metro Police said kidnapped his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint Tuesday night because he was upset over their breakup.

It also may have been the second time in less than a month that the woman had been kidnapped by the same man, police said.

In the most recent case, Larry Brown allegedly kept 22-year-old Shannon McNulty in a second-floor motel room against her will for just over 12 hours. Metro Police forced their way into the room about 12:30 p.m. and arrested Brown. McNulty was unharmed, Sgt. Chuck Pierce said.

"I think his motive was to rekindle the relationship," Pierce said while standing in the parking lot of the Vegas Motel on Fremont Street at Eastern Avenue. "He didn't want the relationship to end."

Brown and McNulty had dated for two years off and on, Pierce said. They have an 8-month-old daughter and had lived together but recently McNulty and the baby had moved in with her mother, Pierce said.

McNulty had filed emergency temporary restraining orders against Brown on March 3 and again on March 9 when the previous order expired.

She also had told police earlier this month that Brown had kidnapped her and took her to a downtown motel room and that she had gotten away on her own. Brown denied it and there was no evidence, Pierce said, making it a "he said, she said" situation.

Tuesday's kidnapping has police reconsidering McNulty's earlier claim, Pierce said. He said detectives would go back and look at that case to see if additional charges could be filed.

About 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Brown allegedly broke into McNulty's mother's condominium in the Mannetta Lane complex on Michael Way near Vegas Drive and Jones Boulevard. After breaking a locked sliding glass door to get into the home, Brown pointed a gun at McNulty's mother, Pierce said, and forced McNulty at gunpoint to leave with him. They drove off in Brown's dark blue Kia Sephia as McNulty's mother called 911.

Earlier Tuesday, about 5 p.m., Brown had paid $130 to rent a room at the Vegas Motel for a week. Motel clerk Eula Chesser checked him in. She saw Brown's photo in media reports Wednesday and recognized him right away.

"I said, 'Oh my God, I think it's the tenant I helped check in the night before,"' Chesser said.

As part of the check-in process motel clerks make a copy of guests' driver's licenses. She found the copy of Brown's license and called Metro. Police arrived moments later.

Police knocked on Brown's motel room door and he opened it slightly. McNulty came to the door but Brown wouldn't let her go, Pierce said. Police dragged her out and Brown slammed the door. Officers forced their way inside and took him into custody.

Pierce said he was "extremely happy" Brown was arrested without much trouble and that McNulty wasn't harmed. After Brown was apprehended police found a gun in the room.

"It could have gone very badly," Pierce said. "He didn't know what to do. There wasn't any other way out of the room."

McNulty told police the incident "was very stressful and she was very happy to be out," Pierce said.

A group of Vegas Motel residents were standing in the parking lot watching the police activity Wednesday afternoon.

Darren Elam said he saw Brown standing on the balcony outside his room earlier in the day wearing a dark blue jogging suit. He appeared to be waiting for someone, he said.

Another resident, Jeff Evans, said he thought Brown picked that motel "because of the price and because it's the cleanest place on the street. It's not a bad place for where it's at."

The place Brown now is at is the Clark County Detention Center. He is being held on several felony charges including kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon of a victim over 65, burglary and home invasion.