Woman fatally stabbed in second Henderson killing in two days

Eric Leake

Friday, May 6, 2005 | 9:34 a.m.

A 19-year-old woman died early Thursday after being stabbed multiple times, Henderson Police said.

Luis Hernandez-Aguirre, 32, who police said was her boyfriend, was arrested.

Police were called to an apartment at 438 Perlite Way near Lake Mead Parkway and Basic Road shortly after midnight. There they found the woman dead.

He allegedly stabbed the woman at least three times with a kitchen knife when their domestic argument became physical.

The woman, whose name has not been released, managed to reach a neighbor's apartment and call for help before she collapsed and died.

A trail of blood tracing her path from her apartment to another remained Thursday afternoon with blood smeared across the door where she died.

Henderson Police Officer Todd Rasmussen, a spokesman for the department, said responding officers saw Hernandez-Aguirre in the desert near the apartment building. They questioned and arrested him.

Rasmussen commended the officers and detectives for catching Hernandez-Aguirre in the dark desert.

He said Hernandez-Aguirre and the woman have a 1-year-old boy who is living with a grandmother at the apartment the family shared.

Hernandez-Aguirre had no record of local arrests. Rasumussen said the homicide appears to have been sparked by jealousy.

The two four-unit apartment buildings where the woman died were quiet Thursday afternoon. Neighbors sitting outside said they did not speak English.

The homicide is the second in Henderson in as many days. Jennifer Davis, 46, was shot to death in her Henderson home early Wednesday morning.

Two women were also found dead at an apartment complex near Boulder Highway and Russell Road Tuesday afternoon. Rena Gonzales, 25, was found strangled with a telephone cord. The death of Marilee Coote, 45, is still being investigated and has been called suspicious.

Greg Phillips has a personal connection to two of the women killed. His furniture store, Phillips Furniture, neighbors the apartments on Perlite Way, and he remembers selling furniture to Gonzales months before her death.

"The violence is getting so escalated," Phillips said. "It's tough times and a growing city."

He said he saw the police cars and crime scene tape when he arrived at the store Thursday and was surprised it involved his neighbors.

"They stay pretty much to themselves over there. They don't bother us," Phillips said of the tenants. "I've never seen the police there in back."

He shook his head when told the woman was 19 years old and said any such violence is senseless.

"It's sad to hear anything," Phillips said. "The point isn't whether it's close. Nobody needs to die the wrong way."

The apartments are neighbored on another side by the home of Ken Downs. He also was surprised.

"It's a really quiet neighborhood. This is unusual," Downs said. "We didn't hear a thing.'

The homicide Thursday was the third in Henderson this year. In addition to the shooting death of Davis, 4-month-old Matthew Schutts died in March after his father violently shook him, police said. John Schutts, 30, pleaded guilty last week to second-degree murder.

Henderson Police said that this time last year they had logged five homicides, including three in April.