Guilty plea entered in student’s death

Wednesday, July 20, 2005 | 9:04 a.m.

A 22-year-old Las Vegas man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Tuesday for the the killing of a UNLV student in her apartment in June 2003.

Jeremy Allen Crozier was originally charged with open murder, robbery and possession of a credit cards without cardholder's consent in connection with the death of his former girlfriend, 24-year-old Rie Shibuya.

The two dismissed charges involved taking three of Shibuya's credit cards and her 1996 Nissan after the slaying.

Crozier faces either 10 years to life in prison or 10 to 25 years when District Judge Donald Mosley sentences him.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, prosecutors retain the right to argue at sentencing.

Shibuya's friends found her body when they went to her apartment in the 1200 block of South Torrey Pines Drive to check on her. After a property manager pried open the door, the friends found Shibuya's body in the living room wrapped in a sheet, which was taped up.

Several cardboard boxes were taped together "in a manner that would indicate that the body was to be placed in them," according to the police report.

Autopsies show Shibuya was killed about two weeks before her body was discovered and that she'd died from strangulation. The body was identified using DNA tests.

Crozier had flagged down a police cruiser in the 3900 block of East Sunset Road and surrendered to patrol officers, after authorities released his name and photograph to the media.

Crozier has two prior felony convictions in Clark County in 2002 for grand larceny and possession of a stolen vehicle and was on probation at the time of the slayings.