Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2004 | 11:06 a.m.
Rebecca Roux told her family and co-workers she was visiting Ohio because she didn't think they would approve of her going to Las Vegas with her boyfriend, with whom she had a stormy relationship.
Early Tuesday, 27-year-old Roux of Sanford, Maine, was found bludgeoned, strangled and stabbed to death in a room she had shared with 34-year-old Lawrence Joyce at the Treasure Island.
Hours later, Joyce committed suicide by jumping off Hoover Dam.
Although there had been concerns about Joyce, "we really didn't think anything like this would happen," said Rob Raymond, sales manager at Cousins Home Lending in Sanford, Maine. "We're just shocked."
On Monday, Joyce had called Raymond and said they had broken up and Roux was on a flight back home. But Raymond said he believes Roux was already dead at that point.
Joyce was a troubled man, his 61-year-old father, also named Lawrence Joyce, said, but no one expected him to kill anyone.
In a phone interview Tuesday night from his home in Laconia, N.H., the elder Joyce said his son had two brothers "and tons of friends that loved him, but he had a problem that went south on him," he said. He would not elaborate.
"We're just going to leave it at that for now and try to deal with getting him home and taking care of everything," he said.
Metro Police Capt. Tom Lozich said police don't know why Joyce killed Roux.
But Joyce apparently wanted police to know exactly who she was and where she could be found.
On the 911 tape, which has not yet been released, "he is not only directing (police) to where she is, but he is also giving some personal data about who she is, including her Social Security number" and driver's license number so she could be easily identified, Lozich said.
About an hour later, Joyce jumped from the Hoover Dam and fell about 750 feet to his death on the Arizona side.
Roux grew up in Sanford, Maine, a town of about 23,000 people, about 90 miles north of Boston. She had worked as a loan officer at Cousins Home Lending in Sanford for about a year, Raymond said.
She loved outdoor activities -- camping, snowmobiling and hiking, he said.
"She was very energetic, she was always happy, always in a good mood," Raymond said. "Our customers really liked her. She was just a good person."
Joyce also worked in the lending business and lived in Laconia, about 50 miles from Roux. They had dated for four or five months, Raymond said.
The couple had a stormy relationship, however, Raymond said. She didn't want anyone to know she was vacationing in Las Vegas with Joyce because of their frequent arguments.
"They were always fighting, it seems," he said.
The fighting ended sometime prior to 12:15 a.m. Tuesday. That was when Joyce called 911 and said police would find a body in a particular room at the Treasure Island.
He also said he was going to kill himself, but refused to say where he was, other than to say he was in a public place, Lozich said.
Hotel security officers went to the room and found Roux dead.
Raymond said he believes Roux was already dead when Joyce had called Raymond on Monday.
Police and the coroner's office today said they had not yet determined Roux's approximate time of death.
As homicide detectives were investigating the murder, a man was spotted by Hoover Dam police walking on the ledge, apparently suicidal, Lozich said. He told the officers that he had killed his girlfriend at Treasure Island.
Metro patrol and traffic officers and Mohave County sheriff's deputies arrived to assist Hoover Dam officers.
A member of Metro's crisis intervention team began talking to Joyce as SWAT officers and crisis negotiators were en route to the dam.
He told police he had a gun and tried to get officers to shoot him, which, if successful, is known as suicide by cop. A gun was not found, Lozich said.
As they provided Joyce with the Newport cigarettes he had requested, officers tried using a Taser on Joyce but were unable to get close enough.
"Those are very difficult situations for officers to be in," Lozich said. "Not only are we engaging someone who is suicidal, but we are also engaging someone who is a suspect in a homicide.
"We obviously wanted to save his life, but we also wanted to take him into custody as a homicide suspect," he continued. "Tactically that can be problematic."
After several hours, Joyce jumped from the ledge to his death, police said. The dam was closed to traffic for about five hours, reopening about 6:30 a.m.
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