Mayhem In The Desert

A true crime site exploring the darker side of Sin City! www.mayheminthedesert.com

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In February of 1982, the body of 19-year-old Audrey Waltz was found in a dumpster in downtown Las Vegas in an alley behind Casino Center Boulevard. She had been strangled, and Waltz had been arrested on prostitution charges twice in the month before her murder. This led to speculation her killer may have met her while she was engaged in sex work.

A few months later in 1982, Waltz’s husband, Melvin Waltz, was shot to death by an acquaintance. Melvin Waltz’s killer claimed a gun accidentally went off when he confronted Waltz over allegedly stolen property.

Audrey Waltz’s murder remains unsolved.

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A local controversy erupted in 1952 when North Las Vegas police ignored requests by residents to shut down a bordello operated on a pig farm in NLV. NLV Police Commissioner Homer Carey told the press: “The Morning Journal is in error in stating that I denied any knowledge that the supposed sex farm was in operation. I did state that nobody has brought the matter to the police…” NLV resident alleged they had made complaints about drunken patrons of the bordello harassing neighboring homes but that NLV police claimed to be helpless to act.

Angry wives threatened to picket the bordello, and the farm was eventually raided.

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In the late 1970s, a resident annoyed by weekly air raid siren tests climbed onto the roof of Vegas Verdes Elementary and cut the siren down. The individual was never identified.

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While in a drunken state, rookie cop Jerome Kuk shot and killed Steve Bowman after Bowman knocked on the door of Kuk’s Boulder City home in 1958. Kuk handcuffed Bowman’s lifeless body, and he then shot and killed a teenager in a passing car. Kuk received a life sentence.

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The manager and employees of the Log Cabin bar faced charges for selling alcohol to minors on New Year’s Eve in 1949 as part of efforts by Vegas officials to crack down on underage drinking. The prosecutor was future US Senator Howard Cannon.

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A very Vegas Christmas

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Nearly two decades before the horrific October 1 massacre on the Strip, a disillusioned young man plotted to vent his rage in a quiet Las Vegas neighborhood.

This story is a bit different than the others we have covered here since one of the creators of Mayhem in the Desert has some firsthand experience with this crime. Anthony Smith (me) grew up across the street from Vegas Verdes Elementary School – and on the other side of the school lived Zane Floyd on the day he made the walk with a shotgun in hand to the nearest supermarket.

One of the eeriest experiences of early adolescence was walking through the Alberton’s that had been my neighborhood grocery store for as long as I could remember for the first time after the massacre. Floyd’s murderous actions had somehow transformed this familiar physical location into something else, something quite irretrievably dark.

The aisles were organized the same, the floors were cleaned of dry blood and now appeared unchanged, and – except for the slain four – the faces of the same employees greeted me. But walking through the produce section, I couldn’t help but to imagine Zachary Emenegger desperately dodging for cover to avoid Floyd’s shotgun blast, a sensation of an unsettling crawl of the skin.

And this time when I left the Albertsons after a purchase of next week’s groceries, there was no Thomas Darnell to walk with me and my grandparents out to the parking lot to load bag after bag into the trunk of a Lincoln that was missing an “L” in the logo and that Thomas accordingly always referenced as a top-of-the-line “incoln”.

During Zane Floyd’s murder trial, the District Attorney called the crime “the worst massacre in the history of Las Vegas.” Since the mass shooting at the Albertsons in a quiet Vegas neighborhood, mass shootings have become even more commonplace, with the deadliest in modern American history occurring on the Strip not that far from where Zane Floyd unleashed his uncategorized rage on an innocent community.

Every one of these mass shootings brings up the memory of the rampage at the grocery store down the street and I wonder if it’s the same for others in close proximity to the multitude of mass shootings that plague the United States – when the breaking news alerts come, does it bring up memories of the school your kid went to; the office complex where your friend worked; the salon where you get your hair done; or the grocery store down the street.

The Killer on the Other Side of Vegas Verdes — Mayhem in the Desert

The Killer on the Other Side of Vegas Verdes — Mayhem in the Desert

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In 1996, off-duty Metro officers Ron Mortensen and Chris Brady drunkenly drove around harassing “dopers and bangers.” Mortensen fired shots into a crowd on McKellar Circle, killing Daniel Mendoza. Mortensen got a life sentence and Brady was convicted of federal charges.

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Mary Vincent was 15-years-old when she ran away from her Las Vegas home in 1978. While hitchhiking in California on her way back to Vegas, she was picked up by ex-merchant seaman Lawrence Singleton. Singleton knocked Vincent unconscious, assaulted her, cut off both of her arms with a hatchet, and threw her body down a cliff. Vincent survived the attack and crawled back up the cliff to the freeway where she obtained help. Singleton was convicted of kidnapping, rape, attempted murder, and mayhem. However, he only served 8 years for this brutal crime. Singleton moved to Florida after his release where he murdered a mother of three in 1997. Vincent testified against Singleton at his Florida trial. He was sentenced to death and died in prison. Vincent went on to become an artist and victim advocate.

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Five years of Mayhem!

We started the original Las Vegas online true crime publication on Nevada Day in 2019, and we have plenty more Vegas true crime tales these next five years!

Keep reading, and remember to be careful…it’s a big desert out there!

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Anyone have more info on the longstanding myth/fact that construction crews discovered human remains while building Summerlin and Green Valley?

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Disposed of in the Desert — Mayhem in the Desert

The bodies of three women were found in the desert outside of Las Vegas in 1996. The case would remain cold for years, until police discover

After the bodies of three women were discovered buried in the desert outside of Las Vegas in 1996, investigators developed the theory that the murders were tied to sex trafficking operated by international organized crime groups. Years of investigating would reveal a far different suspect behind this triple homicide, though the constant threat of violence faced by the city’s sex workers was highlighted by a double homicide which occurred the year after the triple murder case was solved.

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A Torso in the Pond: The Murder of Ladonna Milam — Mayhem in the Desert

The 2003 murder of Boulder City hotel maid Ladonna Milam shocked residents of the small community, particularly after part-time college stud

A trip to the fishing pond at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Boulder City took a gruesome turn on the morning of June 23, 2003. A woman’s torso was located in two parts floating in the pond, the victim’s abdomen having been sliced vertically. A search of the park then revealed additional indications of the unknown brutality that had occurred – a human ear with an earring was located near the pond, and a bloodied blouse was found in a trashcan at the park.

It did not take long to tie the grisly crime scene to the sudden disappearance of a local Boulder City resident from her job as a maid at the Hacienda Hotel located just outside of town on the way toward the Nevada-Arizona border. 49-year-old Ladonna Milam received a request for extra towels from Room 1651 while working the night of June 22, 2003. It is unknown whether Ladonna experienced any hesitation as she carried four fresh towels up to the room occupied by a young man that had left the on-duty clerk at the hotel with an uneasy feeling over due to his skittish behavior and refusal to make eye contact. However, we do know that Ladonna was never seen alive again after visiting Room 1651.

Surveillance footage would show the occupant of Room 1651 carrying a large duffel bag as he took the hotel elevator to the ground floor at around 1:00 a.m. the morning of June 23, 2003.

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Thanksgiving weekend of 1987. Roxanne Harris traveled to Las Vegas with her parents and 7-year-old son, Alexander, for a short holiday trip. The family decided to make a short stop at Whiskey Pete’s in Primm on their way back home to Mountain View, California.

Roxanne left Alexander in the Whiskey Pete’s video arcade while she and her parents gambled in the casino. But when she returned after twenty minutes, her son was nowhere to be found. A review of video surveillance footage showed a man that appeared to be in his mid-thirties leading Alexander out of the hotel by the hand. Several witnesses recalled seeing the man walking out with the child, but they presumed the two were father and son because the boy didn’t appear to be in any sort of distress.

An initial search turned up nothing. Alexander Harris had disappeared.

Abduction at Primm: The Kidnapping and Murder of Alexander Harris — Mayhem in the Desert

Alexander Harris was kidnapped from Whiskey Pete's in Primm over the Thanksgiving holiday in 1987. His murder has never been solved.

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"If I Can Finance Him, and I Will…" - The Scandals of Fred and GMF Motors — Mayhem in the Desert

The catchphrase you can’t forget “If I can finance him, and I will, I can finance anybody.” Those living in Las Vegas during the 80’s or

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Check out our interview with Ana Garcia about the decades-long hunt to find the killer of Kim Bryant, who was abducted from near her Las Vegas high school in 1979.