Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

ODYSSEY LOUNGE: Suspect held in death

Another man accused of having items taken during bartender's slaying

Roger Cobb, left, a guest at the Valley Motel on Fremont Street, and David Payorena said they assisted police in detaining two men in connection with the slaying of a bartender at a nearby tavern. Photo by John Locher.

Las Vegas police arrested two people at a Fremont Street motel Tuesday in connection with the Monday slaying of a bartender at a nearby lounge.

Kevin Martinette, 27, was booked on charges of murder and robbery of a victim over 65 in the death of longtime Las Vegas tavern owner Terry Petropoulos, homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said.

The second man, Randall Stafford, 33, was booked on charges of possessing and receiving stolen property taken during the slaying, Monahan said.

Petropoulos, who celebrated his 70th birthday Saturday, was found slain at the Odyssey Lounge on Fremont Street, near Eastern Avenue, when the day-shift bartender came to relieve him.

Police believe the slaying was robbery-related because cash and the victim's car were missing.

Both men were booked in absentia at the Clark County Detention Center but remained at University Medical Center Tuesday night for various medical problems, Monahan said.

Monahan declined to elaborate on the men's medical problems, but a motel employee said Martinette's forearm had swelled to about twice its normal size before police were called.

Petropoulos was found dead Monday morning when the day shift bartender arrived for work. Petropoulos died from blunt force trauma and asphyxiation.

Late Tuesday, police had taped off Room 20 at the Valley Motel near 13th Street. Stafford moved into the room about three weeks ago, residents said.

Resident David Payorena, 31, said he was partying Tuesday morning with a Valley Motel guest named Randy and another man in a room at the motel, less than a mile from the bar.

Payorena said he didn't know the other man's name. He asked the man about some pool cues and bottles of liquor that other motel guests said the had tried to sell to them.

"We were all partying together and he was doing his drug of choice, some heroin, and I asked him about some items he had," Payorena said.

Payorena declined to say anything more. Police detectives told him not to talk to news media until they talked to him, he said.

Motel guest Roger Cobb said Payorena came out of the motel room about 9:30 a.m. after drinking with Randy and the other man. Payorena told Cobb that the man might be involved in Petropoulos' slaying.

Cobb directed Payorena to his room and told him to report his suspicions to Crime Stoppers while Cobb stalled the man until police arrived.

Cobb said he stood with the man outside the motel office and told him that a cab was coming to pick him up. Officers arrived a short time later and took into custody the man and the guest named Randy, Cobb said.

Cobb said the man had a large backpack filled with bottles of liquor.

"He was trying to sell the alcohol all last night. He tried to sell me the pool cues," Cobb said Tuesday evening.

Cobb also said Randy told Payorena that he and the man planned to leave Las Vegas this morning for Los Angeles.

Nancy Booth, 62, who oversees the motel office when the owners aren't there, said she wasn't surprised that somebody was slain in what she described as a "very bad area."

"It's crack city. Hookers, pushers, out-of-work people raving and screaming all the time, 24-7," Booth said Tuesday evening. "Now it's dark and now the rats come out of their holes."

Betty Ruston, a friend of Petropoulos, said she hopes the person responsible for his slaying is in custody.

"I want this to be over for the family and the people who are their good friends," she said.