Man says he’d have killed for drugs

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, July 7, 2004 | 11:08 a.m.

A 36-year-old man who is scheduled to appear in court this morning on charges of robbing and beating a senior citizen and a church maintenance worker allegedly told Metro Police that if he hadn't been caught he would have committed murder to get money for drugs.

Roderick Davidson called police Saturday and said he "was tired and he wanted to confess to what he had done," according to the police report.

He was being held this morning in the Clark County Detention Center on charges of robbery of a victim over 65, kidnapping, burglary and two counts each of grand larceny and battery with substantial bodily harm.

A senior citizen living in a mobile home on North Lamb Boulevard near Washington Avenue heard a knock at his door the morning of June 28. When he opened it, a man began beating him, the report says.

The intruder pushed the victim to the floor and put him in a choke-hold to drag him through his mobile home looking for the man's wallet, the report says. The robber stole $60 and the keys to the victim's 2000 Chevrolet Cavalier, the victim told police.

The next attack two days later was more violent, the police report indicates.

He approached a worker in a maintenance room at a Latter-day Saints church at 4201 E. Stewart Ave. and asked if any jobs were available. The man then started pummeling the victim in the face and head.

The worker fell to the ground and the attacker continued beating him, the report says, then he stole his wallet and car keys and ran to the parking lot, where he fled in the victim's 1988 Toyota pickup truck.

The victim was taken to the emergency room at Sunrise Hospital, where he was treated for a broken nose and cheekbone. His truck was found later that day in a parking lot on East Bonanza Road near Pecos Road.

On Saturday Davidson contacted police and arranged to meet an officer at the Citizens Area Transit station downtown, saying he wanted to make a confession, the report says.

In a taped statement, Davidson said he had been high and needed money for more drugs, the report says. He went to the mobile home, punched the resident repeatedly and stole his car.

On June 28, he told police, he noticed a man drive up to a church and walk into the back of the building. He approached him and asked about work, then beat him, stole his wallet and truck, according to the police report.

"Davidson said if he was not caught he was thinking about killing someone to support his drug habit," the report says.

His bail this morning was $43,000, according to jail officials.