Home-invasion victims glad to be alive

Ed Koch and Jen Lawson

Friday, Jan. 23, 2004 | 11:06 a.m.

A Las Vegas family terrorized at gunpoint and bound with their own scarves during a home-invasion robbery late Wednesday say they were horrified during the ordeal, and also a bit puzzled.

"They left some of my mother's better jewelry and took, among other things, our toaster," said 21-year-old Natalie, a model who lives with her mother and father in the home in the 4100 block of North Durango Drive just north of Craig Road. "What could they possibly have gotten for our toaster?

"They held guns to our heads, yet at times they were very polite. We were very cooperative. That, I believe, saved our lives."

The home invasion wound up costing the life of one of the alleged robbers, however.

Shortly after the robbery, police killed Keith Maurice Williams, 24, of Las Vegas Wednesday night in the 1200 block of Silver Prospect Drive, near Washington Avenue and Rainbow Boulevard, about seven miles from the home that had been robbed. While running from police, Williams allegedly pointed a gun at an officer. Police said a handgun was found near Williams' body.

The two surviving suspects have been identified as Dewan Blackburn, 24, and Bruce Bolden, 23, both of Las Vegas. Both were arrested and charged with murder because a death resulted during the commission of a felony, Deputy Police Chief Greg McCurdy said.

They also were charged with multiple counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, kidnapping and home invasion. They are being held at the Clark County Detention Center.

Natalie, who asked that her last name and the names of her victimized parents not be printed, said she managed to keep her cool and took in every detail, especially during times when she got just a few seconds to look at the faces of the thieves.

"As horrific as it was, I managed to stay calm, though if you ask me now how I did it I do not know," Natalie said. "I could feel my heart pounding away.

"I was so cooperative I started telling them where our best stuff was," Natalie said, laughing about it Thursday, though admitting it wasn't funny at the time.

"I told them we had a video camera in the closet. I figured if I helped them get the best stuff they would be satisfied and wouldn't harm us. I said take the camera, take my purse, take anything, but please don't hurt us."

In answer to her plea, she said one of the gunman said: "You will be OK."

Another robber, she said, said, "Thank you," after Natalie calmed her parents down as they lay on the floor in the laundry room just off of the garage.

"I believe they just wanted to take our stuff," she said. "And none of our stuff was worth our lives."

Natalie said the family had for six years lived in the home in what once was a quiet Northwest Las Vegas neighborhood -- quiet until development began spreading toward the isolated area with seven homes in two cul-de-sacs.

Today, neighbors say, flashing police car dome lights at night are common as there are a lot of traffic accidents at Durango and Craig.

Several years ago, Natalie said, someone tried to burglarize their home, but failed to get in.

Natalie arrived home Wednesday night to find a red four-door Toyota parked in front of her home with the headlights off and the engine running.

What Natalie did not know was that three men, at least two of them with guns, had knocked on the front door about 10:30 p.m. then forced their way in after one of her parents answered it, Metro homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said. At least one victim was pistol-whipped, he said.

Natalie said it seemed strange that a car would be parked in front of her house the way it was. She said one of the things that caught her eye was that the car had no tinted windows. She thought that was unusual because of the sunny and sometimes broiling desert climate of Southern Nevada.

"I just figured it was one of my father's friends who had stopped by just to run in and say hi," she said.

As Natalie came into the house through a garage entrance, "I saw my mother lying on the floor near some broken glass. I thought she had fallen. Then I heard a click near my head."

It was the sound of a gun trigger being cocked.

"I knew at that moment I had to be the strong one for the sake of my family," Natalie said. "If my parents saw me fall apart they would lose it."

Natalie said she complied when the robber, who wore a bandana and brandished a long silver pistol, told her to get on the floor alongside her folks. He then permitted her to crawl to her shaking mother and comfort her.

The robbers then covered the family members' faces with towels and found scarves that they used to bind their arms and their ankles.

At least 30 minutes went by, Natalie said, before one of the burglars checked on her.

"He helped me stand up then gently picked me up, put me over his shoulder and carried me to my bedroom, where he put me on the floor and covered my head," Natalie said. "About 30 seconds later I heard them leave and started to shimmy out of my bonds."

Upon freeing herself, Natalie called police and described the crooks in detail, including their getaway car with the nontinted windows that, even at night, had to have helped police spot the vehicle, she figures. Her parents too had gotten loose and joined her on the phone to give additional details.

Patrol officers and gang crime officers spotted the suspects' vehicle moments after the call and began chasing it, McCurdy said. Police used a driving maneuver to safely stop the suspect's car.

Donna Lyons, a Las Vegas resident of 41 years and a resident of the 1200 block of Silver Prospect Drive, said Thursday the minute the robbers turned onto Lost Dutchman Drive, "they were caught."

"There is only one way in here and only one way out," she said, noting hers is a quiet neighborhood where incidents such as this almost never happen. "We had a fatal accident on Vegas Drive a while back and people tried to use this road as a detour and found themselves driving around in circles."

Lyons she believes incidents like what happened to Natalie and her family are common because thieves "know where the affluent live in any community and target them."

Metro investigates an average of 15 home invasions each month, police have said.

"If I robbed homes for a living, these are the homes I'd rob," said Allan Rogers, an Internet Web designer who has lived in the 4100 block of Durango for 16 years and whose home has been burgled once. "They know we have stuff worth stealing."

"There is not a whole lot you can do. If someone really wants to get into your home they will try hard to find a way."

Dustin Hayden, who also has lived in the 4100 block of Durango for 16 years, said he was somewhat surprised that a home in his neighborhood was targeted, but not overly surprised given that everyone today is a target.

"Three homes in this cul-de-sac each have two big Rottweilers," he said. "So burglars don't generally mess with our homes because all of the dogs start barking."

Two of the three men from Wednesday's robbery had prior criminal records.

Williams was convicted of attempted theft in 2000 and discharging a firearm into a structure or vehicle in 1998. He also had "multiple additional arrests consistent with home invasion," Monahan said, but declined to elaborate.

Bolden was convicted of drug possession in 2002 and Blackburn has never been convicted of a crime, Monahan said.

Police on Thursday returned Natalie's family the items recovered from the suspects' car after photographing and cataloging them for evidence. The family acknowledged that the returned computer, TV, cell phone, jewelry, camera, DVD player, toaster and other stuff was insignificant compared to what was not taken -- their lives.

"I can only tell you that perhaps the only thing that compares to a gun being held at your head is the feeling of falling off a cliff in slow motion," mom said. "The food I ate for breakfast this morning was the best I have tasted in a long time.

"What my daughter did was incredible. I guess we taught her right. Also, she learned to be self-sufficient at an early age."

Natalie and her mother credited Metro Police with being "absolutely phenomenal."

"Not once did they make us feel violated," Natalie said. "Twenty minutes after the incident, they brought in a volunteer counselor who talked to us all night."

Natalie also said, "the best advice I can give anyone who finds themselves in the situation we were in is to stay calm, cooperate and observe."

Monahan said: "That's exactly the kind of eyewitnesses we want -- the type who can remember details and testify in court with that kind of credibility, which is critical at the time of triall.

"We understand that not everyone can respond that way to highly traumatic events, but those who can get the specific details are ideal. We don't want people to resist because we don't need dead heroes."

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