Police identify 3 arrested in death of Eldorado High teacher

By Kyle B. Hansen

Published Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010 | 1:52 p.m.

Updated Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010 | 7:57 p.m.

Metro Police have identified three men arrested late Friday in connection with the death of an Eldorado High School teacher and a series of robberies last month.

Marcos Coronel Castrejon, 20, Saul Favela, 19, and David F. Rosas, 19, all from Las Vegas, are being held on suspicion of one count of murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, five counts of robbery and five counts of conspiracy to commit robbery.

They are being held without bail in the Clark County Detention Center, police said at a news conference Saturday.

Two juveniles also were arrested on suspicion of robbery, but police said they haven’t been charged in the death of VanDerbosch.

Police said the investigation is ongoing and there could be more arrests and additional charges in the case.

Timothy VanDerbosch, 50, a physics and chemistry teacher at Eldorado High, died Oct. 20 after police said he was beaten and robbed then hit by a car as he tried to run away. The incident occurred near Washington Avenue and Betty Lane as VanDerbosch was walking to school in the morning.

“What shocks the consciousness of the public is the fact that this was a teacher; this was an individual who didn’t have a lot of means. He was just going to school to teach kids in an area that has socio-economic issues, an older school in an older area,” Metro homicide Lt. Lew Roberts said. “He enjoyed teaching there. The kids enjoyed him being there. He was a very, very talented teacher from everything we got, and he was murdered for no reason.”

Police said the same suspects are believed to be responsible for at least eight robberies and some other beatings on multiple nights.

“This goes beyond murder and robbery,” Roberts said. “It goes into areas of battery. They were simply beating people just to beat people.”

Metro robbery Lt. Clint Nichols said they were looking to “find somebody to confront and beat and batter...They used a robbery as a mechanism to cause a confrontation between citizens.”

VanDerbosch was “beaten, battered, chased, beaten and battered some more and had his property taken from him,” Nichols said.

Police said the group appears to have come together by hanging out and partying.

“This is a group of individuals that was basically out preying on people in the early morning hours,” Roberts said.

In the hours surrounding VanDerbosch’s attack, one person was stabbed and another pistol-whipped during street robberies in the same area, but police have not filed any charges in those attacks.

The arrests were made after police conducted surveillance on the suspects and executed multiple search warrants, Roberts said.

A key lead in the case, police said, was a description of a car believed to be involved in the robberies. Police have since found, impounded and searched the car, Roberts said.