Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Air Force joins investigation into deaths of former airman and wife

Nellis officials look into whether post traumatic stress disorder led to homicide/suicide

North Las Vegas Deaths

North Las Vegas police say a man and a woman were found dead Friday morning after a domestic dispute and standoff with officers. Launch slideshow »

Police standoff

Nellis Air Force Base officials say they are cooperating with North Las Vegas Police in the investigation of a domestic dispute that led to the deaths of a husband and wife on Friday.

Capt. Amanda Ferrell, a spokeswoman at Nellis, says that whether 25-year-old Jason Klinkenberg was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder after his service in Iraq is one of the areas under investigation.

Klinkenberg, a vehicle operator with the 99th Logistical Readiness Squadron based at Nellis, served in Iraq from Sept. 1, 2005, until Jan. 25, 2006, Ferrell said.

North Las Vegas Police officers and a SWAT team responded to a standoff about 5:36 a.m. Friday after a call from a friend of the wife, 23-year-old Crystal L. Klinkenberg of North Las Vegas, said she and her husband had argued and he got a gun out and was holding it to her head, Sgt. Tim Bedwell of North Las Vegas Police said.

Officers arrived at the Craig Ranch Villa Apartments at 370 Casa Norte Drive in about five minutes of the call and knocked on the door, Bedwell said. The man answered the door, but he was verbally abusive, and when he went back inside the apartment, he fired a shot out a window at officers, Bedwell said.

When SWAT members entered the apartment about two hours after the standoff began, they found both a man and a woman dead, Bedwell said.

The Clark County Coroner's Office said that Crystal Klinkenberg died of a homicide from a gunshot wound and that Jason Klinkenberg's death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"Nellis is obviously coordinating with them (North Las Vegas Police)," Ferrell said today. She also said that Nellis personnel were working with family members at this time.

Nellis officials plan "a very serious and thorough investigation," Ferrell said, including reviews of Klinkenberg's service in Iraq and his medical records.

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