Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.
Everyone knew Richard Lentino at the Desert Springs Inn apartments. He was the guy shuffling around the tiny complex with a butcher knife in his hand, muttering to himself and smoking, neighbors said.
Lentino's landlord called Metro Police about Lentino three times because neighbors complained about his behavior, and his roommate took him to a mental health facility.
But he apparently slipped between the cracks, neighbors said.
Police arrested Lentino on Monday in connection with the killings of his 46-year-old mother Elaine Lentino; 21-year-old sister Megan and 15-month-old nephew Craig Hanners Jr.
Lentino admitted to police he strangled his mother after he went to her house and asked her for $10, according to the arrest report obtained by the Sun.
"We were trying to prevent this," landlord Abe Samiei said Tuesday in the rental office at the complex on East Flamingo Road near Eastern Avenue. "The guy was acting abnormal, and now three people are dead."
Lentino's father, also named Richard Lentino, is a criminal defense attorney in Middletown, N.Y. He and Elaine Lentino divorced in 1997.
He said his son was bipolar but he didn't like taking his medication because of the side-effects. He also said his son's mental health had been deteriorating.
Megan kept her father updated on her brother's condition in weekly phone calls, the elder Lentino said. But when he tried to call his daughter Monday, she was dead.
"His mother would do whatever she could to help him, but we are not in a day of forced medication unless people are a danger to themselves or the community," the elder Lentino said.
But, he added, his son clearly was a danger.
"I have a dead daughter, a dead grandson and a dead ex-wife," he said. "Usually when someone loses, someone else ends up winning, but there are no winners here."
The younger Lentino's neighbor and roommate said they too had feared that Lentino would wind up hurting someone.
Sacramento Martinez, 35, said he met 23-year-old Lentino in April when Martinez moved into a house where Lentino was living with other roommates.
Lentino had been staying with his mother but, according to the arrest report, she evicted him from her home via the constable's office because of threatening behavior.
He had regular temper tantrums, Martinez said. One day Lentino came at him and tried to punch him, Martinez said.
Lentino apologized and seemed fine for a while, so in June, Martinez and Lentino decided to move into the Desert Springs Inn complex, Martinez said.
Lentino told Martinez he was bipolar and was on disability, and at some point he stopped taking his medication, Martinez said.
"He'd make weird movements with his body, he'd talk to himself, he'd twirl his head up and look at the sky, look at the walls," Martinez said.
"Recently he started taking a kitchen knife in the restroom and I'd get really scared," he continued. "I said, 'Are you planning to kill yourself or hurt others?' But he never answered me."
Martinez complained to their landlord, Samiei. Neighbors also told Samiei they didn't feel safe with Lentino around.
Paulani Baron, 51, said Lentino would knock on her door and ask her for cigarettes and if she refused he'd get angry.
He wandered around outside scratching himself and opening his eyes very wide, looking from side to side and grinning, she said. Samiei said he saw him on a regular basis with a big knife in his hand.
"I told Abe, you have to do something about this guy or he's going to snap one day," Baron said.
Samiei called Metro three times over the past few weeks, but every time he called, he was told no crime had been committed and there was nothing they could do. Samiei advised Martinez to put a lock on his bedroom door.
Last week Samiei gave Lentino a choice: Get help or move out. Lentino agreed to get help, and Martinez took him to Southern Nevada Mental Health Services.
Martinez was surprised when, three days later, Lentino took the bus home, saying he had been allowed to leave because he was fine.
Lentino had prescriptions for two medications and Martinez told him he would take him to get them filled, but Lentino refused, Martinez said.
Richard Patricia lived next door to Elaine Lentino for five years on Starfire Lane near Fort Apache and Flamingo roads. He said he noticed Richard Lentino's white 1986 Crown Victoria parked askew in front of the home between 2 and 3 a.m., and it was partially blocking Patricia's garage.
Patricia didn't see the victims or the white car after that, he said.
"The next thing we saw was police stringing crime tape around the house Monday afternoon," Patricia said.
When Elaine Lentino didn't show up at work Monday a coworker went to her house and discovered the murder scene.
Megan Lentino was found in the front entry way, holding her baby in her arms, the arrest report says. Both had been stabbed.
When police arrived they found Elaine Lentino strangled to death in the garage.
Elaine Lentino worked in the gaming industry, Metro homicide Sgt. Ken Hefner said, but declined to name the casino where she worked or say what she did.
Asked about Lentino's alleged mental illness, Hefner said authorities were looking into it.
Samiei and the complex maintenance manager, Mike Gura, said they were watching Monday Night Football when Lentino wandered over and nonchalantly asked them for pizza, Gura said.
A short time later, police arrived and arrested Lentino on three counts of murder.
Lentino acted "like he was getting a traffic ticket," Gura said.
When police told Martinez his roommate was suspected of killing his family, Martinez said he "turned pale and almost wanted to faint. I'm still in a daze of confusion as to why all this took place."
Martinez said he told police, "I guess I'm a lucky one. They said, 'Yeah, you sure are.' I started praying and saying thank you to God."
Sun reporter Heather Rawlyk contributed to this story.
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