Police: Woman slain in murder-suicide found in freezer

By Tiffany Gibson, Mary Manning

Published Friday, Sept. 18, 2009 | 10:47 a.m.

Updated Friday, Sept. 18, 2009 | 5:13 p.m.

Metro Police said today that the body of a woman found dead Thursday during a murder-suicide investigation was found in a freezer -- and possibly had been there for two years.

Officers responded about 1:52 p.m. Thursday to the home in the 1500 block of Willowbark Court near West Charleston Boulevard and Fort Apache Road to conduct a welfare check. After getting no response from knocking, they needed a locksmith to get in the front door, police said today.

The Metro Police Records Bureau had received a letter Thursday from the deceased woman's husband indicating he had harmed himself and his wife, police said.

Officers found the man believed to be the woman's husband in a master bedroom closet, police said. He died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

After finding the man, police then discovered the woman inside a freezer in a nearby room. Homicide detectives said the woman had been in the freezer for 18 months to two years.

There have been no reports filed with Metro Police noting the dead woman as missing, probably because she had no local relatives, detectives said.

The man’s daughter arrived in Las Vegas Friday afternoon. Felicia Borla of the Clark County Coroner’s Office said the daughter might not be able to help provide a positive identification of the man because of the gunshot wound.

The identities of both people and the exact cause and manner of death will be released by the Clark County Coroner's Office.

When Borla arrived at the house today she sifted through boxes stacked in the front room of the house. After several hours, she said she discovered the man’s dentist. She said she contacted the dentist’s office and will be receiving his dental records soon.

As for the woman, Borla said identifying her could take longer because of the frozen state of the body.

Neighbors drove by while others watched as coroner's office workers entered the house on Friday. One resident who has lived in the neighborhood since 1994 said this was the worst case of violence he can remember.

This is the fourth murder-suicide case in the Las Vegas Valley in 12 days.

In a separate case, police responded to a call Monday from a housekeeper who discovered a 29-year-old woman shot to death by her boyfriend at a home near Maryland Parkway and Silverado Ranch Boulevard. The woman's boyfriend had a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was found in another room at the house, police said.

In another case, a 51-year-old man shot and killed his girlfriend with a rifle on Sept. 7 inside their northwest valley home, police said.

And a Texas man shot and killed a North Las Vegas woman on Sept. 5 before shooting himself, police said. He died in a hospital several days later.