Teen’s slaying mystery to mom

Jen Lawson

Friday, Feb. 27, 2004 | 11:25 a.m.

Seventeen-year-old Jared Whaley left his home the morning of Oct. 14 and set out on his daily walk down the street to his school bus stop, but he never got on the bus.

For four months his mother, Patricia Knight, searched, waited and worried. She contacted Metro Police, missing children organizations, even a psychic.

But her question still remained: What happened to Jared?

Knight got an answer two weeks ago when a body that had been found in a dry lake bed in Boulder City shortly after Whaley's disappearance was identified as her son. He had been killed with multiple shotgun blasts, the coroner determined.

"I still can't believe it," Knight said. "I don't understand it."

Whaley was a Silverado High School senior and wanted to go into the Marine Corps after graduation, then college, she said. Just before he disappeared, he had been planning on getting a part-time job so he could save up for a car.

He lifted weights just about every day, did gymnastics and was a huge NASCAR fan. He dreamed of becoming a NASCAR mechanic.

"Jared was the life of the party," Knight said. "He was a good student; he was very intelligent."

The last known sighting of Whaley was at Puritan Avenue and Picardie Lane, near his home in the area of Warm Springs and Paradise roads. He was walking to his bus stop about 6 a.m. when a blue pickup truck pulled over and Whaley got inside.

The Boulder City Police Department is handling the investigation because Whaley's body was found within its jursidiction. Detective Jerry Stone said he's not certain the blue pickup is connected to Whaley's murder.

The driver could have been someone Whaley knew, and he could have been dropped off somewhere else where he met with foul play, Stone said. Whaley had ditched school before, he added.

Knight called Metro's missing persons section and filed a report. Whaley was initially thought to be a runaway, Detective Mitch Spears said.

But the more that the missing persons detectives investigated, the more they thought Whaley might have disappeared against his will.

They checked his Social Security number with the Department of Justice, performed nationwide DMV searches, checked a national police database and had fliers distributed.

Whaley would have turned 18 on Oct. 24, just over a week after he disappeared.

"The fact that he turned 18 and wasn't working anywhere made us think something might have happened," Spears said. "His mother said that this wasn't like him" to run away.

On Oct. 26, all-terrain vehicle riders found a decomposing body in a shallow grave in the southwest part of the El Dorado Valley dry lake bed in Boulder City. Investigators determined he had been there at least 10 days.

It was Whaley, but because of the condition in which he was found, the Clark County coroner's office was not able to identify him at first, even though a missing person report was on file with Metro.

Knight continued working with Nevada Child Seekers, Vanished Children's Alliance and any group whom she thought would be able to help her find her son.

Boulder City is becoming a popular area for killers to deposit victims -- six murder victims were found there in 2003.

Lt. William Brown of the Boulder City Police Department said detectives are trying to determine if Whaley was killed where he was found or killed elsewhere.

Boulder City police contacted Metro and asked if they had any missing people that matched the description of the body found in the dry lake bed.

Metro officials performed a computer search of their missing persons records and thought Whaley might be a match. Police sent the information to the coroner's office.

It took four months for them to reach that point because of heavy caseloads on the part of Metro's missing persons section and the coroner's office investigators.

But once coroner's office officials determined the man found in the desert could be Whaley, they obtained his dental records and identified him that day, Feb. 12.

"It really upset me," Knight said through tears. She was holding out hope that her son had spontaneously decided to take a trip, possibly to visit a friend in San Diego. She hadn't let herself think that he could be dead. "It was a shock."

Even though Whaley's murder occurred in October, the police investigation is in the early stages.

But that doesn't mean police are stymied.

"We have a lot of leads," Stone said.

Anyone with information on Whaley's death can call Boulder City Police at 293-9224 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.

Whaley's memorial service is set for 11 a.m. Saturday at Davis Paradise Valley Funeral Home, 6200 S. Eastern Ave. In addition to his mother, his survivors include two brothers, Travis Whaley of Las Vegas and Jason Baden Allen of Traverse City, Mich., as well as his aunt, Christine Dicks, and his grandmother, Violet Allen, both of Las Vegas.