Woman slain in front of police had court order on ex

Jen Lawson

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004 | 10:50 a.m.

Maria Ortiz had obtained a restraining order against her estranged husband, but that piece of paper did not prevent him from kidnapping and killing her in front of their 11-year-old daughter, Metro Police said.

Two Metro officers said they witnessed the shooting early Sunday and arrested 44-year-old Carlos Ortiz immediately afterward.

It was the final chapter in what appeared to be a tumultuous relationship, according to court records.

Carlos Ortiz sued Maria for divorce in October 1995 and applied for temporary custody of their daughter, but custody was given to Maria. They represented themselves in court.

The divorce was granted in February 1997, but they still battled each other in court over custody and child support, court records show. A judge ordered them into family mediation in October 1998.

In July 2001, Carlos Ortiz was arrested after allegedly punching Maria and threatening her with a gun, Metro Police said. He had also been arrested on domestict violence charges several times in California, police said.

Although there is no record in Clark County of the couple marrying a second time, court records show Maria Ortiz filed for divorce against Carlos in April.

She was granted a temporary restraining order against Carlos on Aug. 18, the police report says. It was due to expire Nov. 8.

According to the police report, two Metro officers had pulled over a driver for a traffic violation at 1:40 a.m. Sunday on Eastern Avenue near U.S. 95 and had pulled into the parking lot of Winchell's to fill out paperwork.

The officers heard a car horn honking and saw a Chevrolet Cavalier pull up alongside their cruiser. The female driver, Maria Ortiz, was screaming, police said.

The front seat passenger, whom police identified as Carlos Ortiz, grabbed Maria's hair and pulled her head toward his lap, the police report says, then the officers saw the man raise a gun, point it at her head and pull the trigger.

The officers jumped out of their cruiser and ordered Ortiz to drop the weapon. He threw it out of the passenger side window and onto the ground, they said.

The couple's daughter climbed from the back seat to the front seat, in between her parents, the police report says.

Maria Ortiz was pronounced dead at the scene.

In an interview with detectives, the girl said her father had picked her up from a party at a friend's house earlier and had drank beer there.

He took her back to his house in the 700 block of Effinger Street near Eastern Avenue and Bonanza Road. When Maria Ortiz arrived to take her home, Maria and Carlos Ortiz got into a fight outside his house, the police report says.

They wrestled on the ground and Carlos reportedly punched Maria Ortiz several times, then he allegedly pulled out a gun and forced Maria and their daughter into his car.

As they were getting into the car, the girl told police, she saw her father slam her mother's head against the side of the car.

Keeping his gun on her, Carlos Ortiz forced Maria to drive, but he was not specific about their destination, the police report says.

Driving down Eastern, she spotted the police car in the Winchell's parking lot and swerved into the lot, pulling up next to it and screaming.

When they took him into custody, detectives saw Ortiz was "very intoxicated," the report says, and he had difficulty standing. "He was unresponsive to general questions about his health or well-being," the report says.

Susan Klein-Rothschild, director of Clark County Department of Family Services, said her agency had no prior contact with either Carlos or Maria Ortiz over the wellbeing of their daughter. She was taken to Child Haven after her father was arrested.

Maria Ortiz was the 10th person this year to be killed in Las Vegas or unincorporated Clark County as a result of domestic violence, Metro Homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said. As of this morning Metro had investigated 94 homicides.

The most recent domestic violence-related homicide occurred this morning, when a man called 911 and said he had killed his girlfriend at the Treasure Island, then committed suicide by jumping off Hoover Dam.

Of the 141 criminal homicides investigated by Metro in 2003, 21 -- or 15 percent -- were domestic-violence related. (Seven of the homicides last year were non-criminal officer-involved shootings.)

Carlos Ortiz remained jailed at the Clark County Detention Center this morning on a charge of murder and two counts of kidnapping, authorities said.