This is a list of homicides in Nevada. It includes notable homicides committed in the U.S. state of Nevada that have a Wikipedia article on the killing, the killer, or the victim.
The list is divided into three sub-lists as follows:
1. Multiple homicides – homicides having multiple victims, including the worst mass shooting in American history (2017 Las Vegas shooting) and the 1981 Hilton arson
2. Serial killers – persons who murder three or more persons with the incidents taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them
3. Individual homicides – notable homicides involving a single fatality, including the Murder of Tupac Shakur and the murder of casino executive Ted Binion
This article also does not include all people who have been executed in Nevada. Such persons are listed separately at List of people executed in Nevada.
Listed in chronological order
Incident | Location | Date | Deaths | Description | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Queho | Nevada | Early 20th century | Unknown | Native American alleged to be the first mass murderer in Nevada history | [1] [2] [3] |
1981 Hilton arson | Las Vegas | 1981-02-10 | 8 | Busboy under influence of drugs set fire to a curtain in an elevator lobby on eighth floor, 350 injured and eight killed in fire | [4] [5] |
Lin Newborn/Daniel Shersty | Las Vegas | 1998-07-04 | 2 | Two men killed by white supremacist in remote desert location outside Las Vegas | [6] |
Zane Floyd | Las Vegas | 1999-06-03 | 4 | Mass shooting at Albertson's supermarket | [7] |
Darren Mack | Reno | 2006-06-12 | 2 | Convicted of murdering his wife, Charla Mack, during divorce proceedings; also suspected of shooting family court judge Chuck Weller the same day | [8] |
Las Vegas courthouse shooting | Las Vegas | 2010-01-04 | 2 | Mass shooting at federal courthouse lobby by man disgruntled by cuts to his Social Security benefits | [9] |
Carson City IHOP shooting | Carson City | 2011-09-06 | 5 | Mass shooting at IHOP restaurant | [10] |
2013 Sparks Middle School shooting | Sparks | 2013-10-21 | 2 | Shooting by 12-year-old at middle school; victims included teacher Michael Landsberry | [11] |
2014 Las Vegas shootings | Las Vegas | 2014-06-08 | 5 | Shooting at a restaurant and Walmart by married couple with extreme anti-government views | [12] |
2017 Las Vegas shooting | Las Vegas | 2017-10-01 | 60 | Mass shooting from 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay hotel into crowd attending music festival | [13] |
2019 Nevada killing spree | Douglas, Washoe Counties | 2019-01 | 4 | Murder-robbery spree by Salvadoran immigrant at three homes of elderly inhabitants | [14] |
2020 Henderson shooting | Henderson | 2020-11-03 | 4 | Mass shooting at apartment building | [15] |
2023 University of Nevada, Las Vegas shooting | Las Vegas | 2023-12-06 | 3 | Mass shooting at Frank and Estella Beam Hall on UNLV campus; shooter was unsuccessful applicant for professorship | [16] |
Listed in chronological order
Incident | Location | Date | Deaths | Description | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Carroll Cole | California, Nevada, Texas | 1947–1980 | 16–35 | Serial killer who was executed in 1985 for killing at least 15 women and one boy by strangulation | |
Nathaniel Burkett | Mississippi, Nevada | 1978–2002 | 5–6+ | Murdered four women in close proximity to his Las Vegas apartment | [17] |
Terry Childs | Nevada, California | 1979–1985 | 5–12 | Jobless drug addict who claimed he was pressured into confessing after seeing the ghosts of the people he had killed | |
Thomas Wayne Crump | Nevada, New Mexico | 1980 | 4–7 | [18] | |
Great Basin Murders | Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Idaho | 1983–1997 | 4+ | Murders of at least nine women | |
Daryl Mack | Reno | 1988, 1994 | 2 | [19] | |
Brookey Lee West | Las Vegas | 1993–1998 | 1–3 | Convicted of murdering her mother; also suspected in murder of her brother and husband | [20] |
David Stephen Middleton | Sparks, Verdi | 1994–1995 | 2–3+ | Former Miami police officer and suspected serial killer | [19] |
Tony Ray Amati | Las Vegas | 1996 | 3 | Shot and killed three people during series of "thrill-killings" in Las Vegas | [21] |
Listed by date
Incident | Location | Date | Description | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|
Julia Bulette | Virginia City | 1867-01-19/20 | Prostitute strangled and bludgeoned by French drifter; killer's hanging attended by Mark Twain | |
John Gregovich, Andriza Mircovich | Tonopah | 1912-05-14 | State senator Gregovich murdered by Mircovich; Mircovich was executed in 1914 with an automated shooting machine | |
Jarbidge Stage Robbery | Jarbidge | 1916-12-05 | The last mail stagecoach robbery in the U.S. and the first conviction based on a bloody palm print (driver killed) | |
Sonja McCaskie | Reno | 1963-04-05 | British Olympic skier raped, murdered, and dismembered by 18-year-old high school student | [22] |
Oscar Bonavena | Reno | 1976-05-22 | Argentine heavyweight boxer shot at Mustang Ranch by security guard during a conflict with the owner | |
Al Bramlet | Las Vegas | 1977-02-24 | Labor leader kidnapped from Las Vegas airport, body discovered in the desert with six bullet wounds | |
Jesse Bishop | Las Vegas | 1977-12 | Convicted of the murder of David Ballard during a robbery at a Las Vegas Strip casino; executed in the gas chamber in 1979 | |
Murder of Gwenn Story | Las Vegas | 1979-08-14 | Unidentified woman discovered dead in Sahara Hotel parking lot with multiple stab wounds in abdomen | [23] |
Murder of Tammy Terrell | Henderson | 1981-10-05 | Unsolved murder of 17-year-old girl by blunt-force trauma; body identified 40 years later in 2021 | [24] |
Tommy Turk | Las Vegas | 1981-08-04 | Jazz musician shot in the head with shotgun during liquor store holdup | [25] |
Murder of Mary Silvani | Washoe County | 1982-07-17 | Woman found shot to death, identified in 2019 with DNA | [26] |
Cornell Gunter | Las Vegas | 1990-02-26 | R&B singer inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Coasters was shot and killed in his car | |
Murder of Tupac Shakur | Las Vegas | 1996-09-13 | Rapper killed in drive-by-shooting | [27] |
Herbert Blitzstein | Las Vegas | 1997-01-6 | Loanshark and bookmaker shot in head at his home | |
Chris Trickle | Las Vegas | 1998-03-25 | Stock car race drive killed in drive-by shooting | [28] |
Jeremy Strohmeyer | Primm | 1998-05-25 | Convicted of sexual assault and murder of 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson at Primadonna Resort | [29] [30] |
Ted Binion | Las Vegas | 1998-09-17 | Gambling executive, death by drug overdose ruled homicide | [31] |
Jay R. Smith | Las Vegas | 2002-10-05 | Former child actor from Our Gang short film series discovered dead at age 87 in desert outside Las Vegas with multiple stab wounds; homeless man convicted | [32] |
Kathy Augustine | Reno | 2006-07-11 | Member of Nevada Assembly killed with drugs by her fourth husband | [33] |
Murder of Brianna Denison | Reno | 2008-01-20 | 19-year-old college student visiting Reno from Santa Barbara, California, raped and strangled by James Biela | [19] |
Rhoshii Wells | Las Vegas | 2008-08-11 | Boxer and Olympic medalist shot and killed | [34] |
Jeff German | Las Vegas Valley | 2022-09-02 | Investigative reporter stabbed to death; elected official about whom German had reported is accused of the murder | [35] |
Marion Hugh "Suge" Knight Jr. is an American record executive and convicted felon who is the co-founder and former CEO of Death Row Records. Knight was a central figure in gangsta rap's commercial success in the 1990s. This feat is attributed to the record label's first two album releases: Dr. Dre's The Chronic in 1992 and Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle in 1993. Knight is currently serving a 28-year sentence in prison for a fatal hit-and-run in 2015.
Orlando Tive "Baby Lane" Anderson was an American Crips gang member suspected in the murder of Tupac Shakur. Anderson belonged to the California-based gang known as the South Side Compton Crips. Detective Tim Brennan of the Compton Police Department filed an affidavit naming Anderson as a suspect; he denied involvement and was never charged. Anderson's uncle, Duane Keith Davis, was charged with Shakur's murder on September 29, 2023.
Biggie & Tupac is a 2002 feature-length documentary film about the murdered American rappers Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace and Tupac Shakur by Nick Broomfield.
Cathleen Scott is a Los Angeles Times and New York Times bestselling American true crime author and investigative journalist who penned the biographies and true crime books The Killing of Tupac Shakur and The Murder of Biggie Smalls, both bestsellers in the United States and United Kingdom, and was the first to report Shakur's death. She grew up in La Mesa, California, and later moved to Mission Beach, California, where she was a single parent to a son, Raymond Somers Jr. Her hip-hop books are based on the drive-by shootings that killed the rappers six months apart in the midst of what has been called the West Coast-East Coast war. Each book is dedicated to the rappers' mothers.
The Killing of Tupac Shakur is a biographical, true crime account by American journalist and author Cathy Scott of the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. The book made news upon its September 1997 release, on the first anniversary of Shakur's death, because of an autopsy photo included in its pages. It was the first book to be released covering the rapper's death. The book was reprinted in the UK by Plexus Publishing and in Poland by Kagra. Coverage of the autopsy photo, taken of Shakur's body on a gurney in the coroner's examining room, catapulted the book onto the Los Angeles Times bestseller list. New editions of the book were released in 2002 and 2014.
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On September 7, 1996, at 11:15 p.m. (PDT), Tupac Shakur, a 25-year-old American rapper, was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. The shooting occurred when the car carrying Shakur was stopped at a red light at East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane. Shakur was in Marion "Suge" Knight's car, who was also injured in the shooting. Although Knight was only grazed by a bullet in the shooting, Shakur died from his injuries on September 13, 1996, six days after he was shot.
The Gypsy Hill killings were a group of five homicides of young women and girls in San Mateo County, California, during early 1976. The killer became known in the media as the "San Mateo Slasher." It was later proven that there were at least two different perpetrators with Rodney Halbower convicted of the murders of Baxter, Cascio and Michelle Mitchell and Leon Seymour being convicted in the sole murder of Lampe. It is believed Blackwell and Booth were killed by Halbower, but there's no evidence yet to tie him to those cases and Friedman's murder is also unsolved with these killings being partially unresolved.
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