Body found likely to be Summerlin woman

Jen Lawson

Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004 | 11:11 a.m.

After 26-year-old Theresa Insana disappeared last week, Metro Police suspected someone might have killed her.

Their suspicions were confirmed Monday -- and her parents' hopes that she would come home were dashed -- when a body believed to be Insana's was found in a construction area about seven miles from her Summerlin home.

Insana's last known conversation was with her mother, who lives in the Niagara Falls area, between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26.

She was fine when they spoke, Ann Marie Insana said Monday. Her daughter asked about some family members who were ill and discussed some traveling she was doing for her job.

Insana, a manager in the hotel sales department at the Rio, didn't show up for work Wednesday or Thursday. Friends went to her home near West Sahara Avenue and Town Center Drive on Thursday morning and called police when they couldn't reach her.

Her home was locked, her Hyundai Sonata was in the garage and all her personal belongings were accounted for. Her cigarettes -- which her father said she always kept with her -- and her beloved blue-eyed Cocker Spaniel, Frankie, were also still there. There was no evidence that anyone forced their way into her home.

Detectives were at a loss, Sgt. Chuck Pierce of Metro's crimes against youth and family bureau said, before the body was found. The lack of evidence as to what happened, and the lack of any crime scene, is frustrating, he said.

"Nothing fits," he said. "Nothing seems right. We have very few leads."

But about 11:15 a.m. Monday, construction workers discovered what appeared to be human remains while working on a drainage culvert at Hualapai and Peace ways.

The body has not yet been identified but police are fairly certain it's Insana. An autopsy is scheduled for today, the coroner's office said. Manning declined to comment on an apparent cause of death.

Metro Homicide Sgt. Kevin Manning said that "There is nothing on the surface that would make her a high-risk victim," -- she was law-abiding and did not associate with any shady characters.

Her parents had learned of her disappearance Thursday and flew to Las Vegas on Friday.

They took part in a search Saturday, along with several dozen volunteers including Insana's friends and co-workers. They handed out fliers in a six-mile radius of Insana's home.

Metro's mounted patrol and police dogs also searched the nearby mountains and desert area, but all came up empty-handed.

Insana graduated from Binghamton University in Binghamton, N.Y., in 2000. She has a degree in psychology. She decided to come to Las Vegas to try her hand at sales, her father said, and she was successful.

She was engaged to be married, Joseph Insana said, but the relationship ended amicably earlier this year.

"The marriage just wasn't the right thing," he said. "It was upsetting, but she was positive. She said, 'I'm going to move forward,' and she did."

She kept in touch with her ex-fiance and he was among the friends who were involved in reporting her missing, Pierce said.

Insana doted on the dog he had given her for her birthday in January, Joseph Insana said.

"She named him after Frank Sinatra," her father said. "The favorite thing in her life was her dog."

When Manning, the homicide detective, was asked this morning about possible suspects in the slaying, he said, "We have a list. Everybody is open at this point in time. We haven't excluded anybody."

When speaking to reporters Monday, the Insanas appeared very stoic. Joseph Insana said they were relying on prayer.

"We're both very spiritual people and you just have to trust in Him," he said. "God is good and I'm sure we'll get through this."

Anyone with information about the case can contact Crime Stoppers at 385-5555 or police at 229-2907.