Landlord injured in beating dies from injuries

By Mary Manning (contact), Tim Richardson (contact)

Monday, May 4, 2009 | 11:32 a.m.

Jonathan Vanhook

Landlord beaten after man told to leave property

Landlord assault

Metro Police today identified a Las Vegas man suspected of beating his landlord to death in a southeast valley residence on Sunday.

The victim was taken to Sunrise Hospital with critical injuries and later died as a result of his injuries, police said. The landlord has not been identified.

Officers went to 4790 East Boston Ave. near Sahara Avenue and Nellis Boulevard, about 4:22 p.m. Sunday where they found a man covered in blood inside the residence, police said. The officers, who were investigating a report of a fight, found the 62-year-old man severely beaten by a pipe or other heavy object, said Lt. Ted Snodgrass.

Homicide detectives have identified the suspect as 35-year-old Jonathan Vanhook. Vanhook was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on one count of murder, according to detention center records.

Detectives said that the victim and Vanhook were involved in an ongoing dispute over money, which apparently led to the fight on Sunday.

The identity, exact cause and manner of death of the victim will be determined by the Clark County Coroner's Office.

Anyone with information about the homicide is asked to call the Metro Police Homicide Section at (702) 828-3521, or to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at (702) 385-5555.

Discussion: 18 comments so far…

By Rocco

5/4/09 at 1:34 p.m.

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Bye now you get free rent
By casinokid

5/4/09 at 2:26 p.m.

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A man has lost his life his family are in my prayer's.

I too am a landlord and have also been attacked by tenant's when i would hand them an eviction notice, Where do these tenants justify that their actions are warranted, These tenants feel like you are the ones who have brought this on them,
I had a women tell me she could not pay me because she had to pay her cell phone bill!
I told her I hope it was a soft one because thats what she's going to be sleeping on, And another one told me they had to pay their car payment and i told them I hope it has a bathroom because thats where your going to be living,
And these people are mad at me! they owe me money and they're mad at me!
I also had one to tell me they didn't have to pay because I got them mad for asking for what was rightfully mine.
Bottom line I have to make payments also on that house.
By LasVegas2009

5/4/09 at 3:26 p.m.

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Do we have a death penalty in Nevada? And if not why not? Start executing people and they will start thinking before killing someone.
By JSpence07

5/4/09 at 3:48 p.m.

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I believe we do have the death penalty. Didn't OJ Simpson get the death penatly or was it just life?

Sorry.. I just moved to Vegas in August '08, so I have no idea if we have the DP or not.
By Bertsos

5/4/09 at 6:10 p.m.

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Nevada has a death penalty, but it is rarely used or gets that far for a DP case.

OJ got years.......his crime in Nevada was burglury.

Surprised we don't hear more of this in these times.
By Sunvisitor

5/6/09 at 8:41 a.m.

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Interesting how we don't have any comments saying how typical that some young white guy beat up his elderly landlord. Vanhook seems like a foreign name to me. No one wants to question if he's here legally?
By bugisblue

5/6/09 at 9:18 a.m.

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i know jonathon. his sister is a good friend of mine. the landlord was ripping him off. he was illegally renting the property to him. it was in default and was not even his property to rent. he was defrauding not only the suspect but other people too.. i dont support what john did. but he snapped when this old thief tried to steal from him. what would you do if you found out that you were renting a house that the landlord didnt have the right to rent? i would of confronted the man too. he also stole johns mail which included money sent to him by his mother. john just moved to vegas from california after his father died from lung cancer. he moved to make a new start. to only get ripped off. no one takes time to think that maybe this old man had it coming to him. he picked on the wrong guy and he payed for it
By goingbust

5/6/09 at 10:11 a.m.

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Casinokid a.k.a. Slumlord, what kind of trash are you renting to and why do you expect their behavior will be any different than the behavior you are getting? Are you getting a one month security deposit and requiring a background check and a 680 credit score, or not?
By goingbust

5/6/09 at 10:15 a.m.

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"Vanhook seems like a foreign name to me. "

Vanhook sounds Dutch to me. Not really a rare name. The Dutch settled most of the New England coast before England took it over. New York was New Amsterdam before England got their claws into it.
By bugisblue

5/6/09 at 10:38 a.m.

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it is a foreign name. so is my name. does not make him foreign. he grew up in san diego. born and raised there. this so called landlord was collecting rent on property he had no right to rent. he was breaking the law and he payed for his crimes
By Sunvisitor

5/6/09 at 12:48 p.m.

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goingbust - I was being facetious. Have you not noticed that every single time a hispinic sounding name is mentioned in the paper, the commentors assume the person is here illegally?
By Sunvisitor

5/6/09 at 12:59 p.m.

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Oops. Typo. Meant to put Hispanic. And bugisblue, my point exactly. Why do people assume all Hispanics are illegal but not assume other foreign names indicate that your presence here is not legal? Rhetorical question. I know the answer.
By bugisblue

5/6/09 at 1:25 p.m.

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yes i agree. but wait . if his name was smith he would still be foreign. I know a ton of smiths from the UK.
everone should go to the other page and post there. there is a lot more info on the comments. The first article released on this story
By mostafavi

5/9/09 at 4:38 p.m.

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bugisblue for you to try to defend your friend A MURDERER shows alot about your character. murder is not the answer. I am Moretza Mostafavi the victoms daugther and i will make sure your friend rottens in jail.
By diddo

5/12/09 at 10:01 a.m.

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bugisblue.. I also live in the same city that he grew up in my brother was very good friends with him in high school. He become mentally unstable if you are good friends with his sister you would know why. But the point is John was a very unstable person had a big temper. That does not justify what he did. You should not be justifying what he did it was wrong. But if they look into his mental capability I am sure they will find that he was not a stable person. But it makes you sound so ignorant for backing him up on this. I feel sorry for the victims family no matter what the landlord did it does not justify what happened to him.
By soldierswife

5/14/09 at 1:04 p.m.

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I would like to say that I grew up watching John playing basketball in our back yard with my older brother. They were very good friends. I feel terrible for the victims family and I will keep them in my prayers as I will keep his family in my prayers. His sister use to babysit me . John is not mentally stable had not been for a very long time. You shouldn't judge a book by its cover and what you think you know. Get the facts!!!!!
By Two_Wrongs

5/14/09 at 3:28 p.m.

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Moretza Mostafavi, if your Dad was in fact illegally leasing properties and stealing mail then what kind of person was he? I do not believe that he should have been killed, but he was making money while taking advantage of peoples livelihood. You have to admit that what he was doing was wrong. John should never have snapped the way he did. I know he had mental issues, but he should have controlled himself. Based on everything that I have read on here, this is what I see happening. The "vicitim" is illegally leasing a property collecting three months rent in advance in cash as to not create a paper trail. He then goes one step further and begins stealling tenants mail. John finds out that he has not been receiving packages from his family and he confronts the "victim." Now that the landlord has been exposed he has to react quickly so his operation is not ruined. He quickly finds another tenant but cannot resist making another buck off of John so he goes to the home. However, the landlord knows that he is physically inferior to John so if he is going to rob him again, then he needs to be armed with a weapon. The landlord goes over to the house and is going to get what he can from John, when John shows up and confronts the landlord. The landlord tells John he must vacate the property and an argument ensues. The landlord is scared of John's size so he pulls out the weapon he brought with him. This just enrages John further. Now he has been robbed, is getting kicked out of his house, and the person that did all of this pulls a weapon on him. John snaps and in a fit of rage beats the man to death. John lost all control which is not okay and certainly is not justified. However, to make a claim that the landlord was some innocent vicitim is absurd. Both parties were wrong. John went way over the line but the landlord pushed him over the edge. The landlord should have been rotting in jail for the crimes he committed. Instead he continued to attempt to ruin someone's life and he picked the wrong person to play with. John will pay for what he did. If he goes to prision for life, is found mentally unstable, or if it is deemed justifible, he will live with the knowledge that he killed a man for the rest of his life. Everytime he closes his eyes he will see that man lying there motionless and know that he was the cause. Regardless of where he is, free or locked up, he will forever live in a prision of regret that was created by a bad judgement and a criminal.
By Jannelle

7/8/09 at 12:25 p.m.

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Maybe the landlord should be in jail...but now the court will never get the chance to put him there.