Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

A month after wife’s death, Nellis technical sergeant confesses, police say

Scene of April 6 homicide

Jarom Boyes

Jarom Boyes

After being told he failed a lie-detector test earlier this week, an Air Force technical sergeant at Nellis Air Base confessed he shot his wife last month after an argument in a bar escalated into a fight at their North Las Vegas home, according to an arrest report.

Jarom Boyes, 41, North Las Vegas, was arrested Tuesday on one count of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon in the April 6 death of his wife, Melissa Boyes, 24, an Air Force staff sergeant at Nellis. As of noon Friday, Boyes had not been formally charged, according to the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, which released the North Las Vegas Police arrest report in the case.

According to the report:

Officers were called about 11:30 p.m. April 6 to the Boyes home, 88 Whitetail Archery Ave., North Las Vegas. There, they found Jarom Boyes administering CPR to his wife, who was lying on the master bedroom floor and not breathing.

After paramedics arrived and pronounced Melissa Boyes dead, Jarom Boyes told police he and his wife had argued earlier in the evening at a Las Vegas bar, Charlie’s Las Vegas, 5012 Arville, but had come home and “everything was all right.” Jarom Boyes said he then heard a gunshot from the bedroom and found his wife lying on the floor with a gunshot wound to her chest. At that point, he called 911 and began administering CPR.

An officer at the scene noted blood on the floor underneath Melissa Boyes’ body and droplets of blood from the closet to where her body was. The officer also saw a large hole in the wall just behind the front door. The hole “looked fresh” with pieces of drywall on the floor underneath the hole. There also were papers scattered about, along with broken ceramic cup coasters on the floor.

After officers arrived, a witness came to the house and told police she had been with Melissa Boyes most of the day and they had been joined by Jarom Boyes earlier that evening. The Boyeses left Charlie’s about 10:45 p.m., the witness said. About 11:25 p.m., the witness said Melissa Boyes phoned her and told the witness several times, “please help me,” and then said, “I think he’s going to beat the (expletive) out of me.”

The witness said by the time she arrived, police were already at the Boyes home.

Jarom Boyes gave police his consent to complete their investigation at the couple’s home.

On Tuesday, after waiving his Miranda rights, Boyes consented to a lie-detector test. The FBI agent who administered the test determined Boyes had failed, using countermeasures in an attempt to beat the polygraph.

When the FBI agent and North Las Vegas police confronted Boyes with the results, he recanted the suicide story and gave a new version of what happened on the night of his wife’s death.

The argument began over Jarom Boyes driving the couple’s new Camaro to the bar. The bickering continued on the way home. When they arrived home, they began fighting inside the house. At one point, Jarom Boyes had his wife in a headlock. She bit him, which cause him to shove his wife headfirst into the drywall.

Melissa Boyes then locked herself in the bedroom. When she unlocked the door, she had a gun, which she pointed at Jarom Boyes when he approached. Jarom Boyes continued toward his wife, grabbed the gun, and shot Melissa Boyes a single time in the chest.

A March 29 article in the Bullseye, the official newspaper of Nellis Air Base, said Tech. Sgt. Jarom Boyes was logistics flight NCO in charge of medical maintenance for the 99th Medical Support Squadron Logistics Flight at Nellis.

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