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Neighbors: Slayings foretold

For years, Timothy Chester talked about killing his parents, according to a couple in Chester's mobile home park who said Chester confided in them.

"For the 31/2 years we knew him, it's all that Timmy talked about," said the husband, who asked that his name not be used because neighbors in the tight-knit community would be angry with them.

"As much as I hate to say it, Timmy got his wish."

The statements by the couple, along with a jailhouse interview with Chester's accomplice, 18-year-old Victor Veliz, paint a picture of a sad, frustrated teen who lived in an abusive household. Police are accusing Chester, also 18, of having Veliz carry out the killings of Thomas and Carla Chester on Wednesday afternoon.

Despite the brutality of the crimes, neighbors described Timothy Chester as a respectful teen who would help neighbors with lawn work or carrying out the trash. Over time, he came to confide in the couple.

One evening, about three years ago, he was sitting on the couple's porch and talking about his mother's obsession with keeping the house clean.

"He said, 'See, wouldn't it be funny, the way mom is about the house, that if a bunch of people came over and the house was dirty from having her blood all over it? Wouldn't that be funny?' And I said, 'Not really,' " the woman said.

The night before his parents were killed, police noted in Veliz's arrest report, Thomas and Carla Chester got into an argument with their son "over their responsibilities in the house."

The couple said they previously had told Chester's parents about the teen's violent language and need for counseling, but their concerns were dismissed. Carla Chester said their son could never hurt them, the woman said.

The woman said she called Las Vegas police's nonemergency line about two years ago regarding Timothy Chester's statements.

She told the operator that she was concerned about a teen who was talking about killing his parents. The woman was transferred to another person.

She said her concerns went unresolved.

Reached after the late Friday night interview with the couple, police said they couldn't immediately respond to the woman's comments.

Timothy Chester, who dropped out of school in his senior year, was frequently physically and verbally abused by his father, who the couple described as an alcoholic.

"When his dad would hit him, he would never swing back," said the woman, who emphasized she was not excusing the crimes. "He would run away to his room or leave through the front door and walk away crying."

The woman said that she saw bruises, handprints and fist marks, on the teen's body. When she asked about them, he would say "Dad was drunk last night," she said.

Veliz, dressed in blue inmate garb at the Clark County Detention Center on Friday, said in an interview that Timothy Chester told him his father was an abusive alcoholic and that, compounded by the fight on Tuesday night, could have set Timothy Chester over the edge.

"He just hated everybody," Veliz said of Timothy Chester. "He always joked about (killing the family) but I never thought he was serious."

But on Wednesday, Veliz said, the teen was serious when he asked him to kill his parents.

"(He said) 'Don't wuss out on me or I'll shoot you instead,' " he said.

Veliz said he was "nervous and numb" about when he shot and killed 57-year-old Thomas Chester. Next he shot and stabbed Carla Chester, 51. He then washed his hands in the kitchen sink and walked home, according to a Metropolitan Police Department report.

"I was used," he said, pausing. "By him."

Veliz was arrested at his home Wednesday night, after his mother called police.

Timothy Chester, also being held at the Clark County Detention Center, declined a Las Vegas Review-Journal request to be interviewed.

In Chester's accounts given in a police report, he tells a different story about plotting the slayings.

He and Veliz planned to kill Chester's family execution style and escape to Guatemala, the report states. Veliz's father owns property in Guatemala, according to Family Court filings. The men also discussed killing Veliz's parents the following week.

Chester lived with his parents, sister, brother-in-law and their small children in a home at Heritage Village Mobile Home Park, 1515 S. Mojave Road, near Charleston Boulevard.

Chester told police that threats from his brother-in-law and hatred of his parents led him to hatch a plan to kill his family, according to the report.

The family had a "heated argument" late Tuesday and Chester told police he feared his brother-in-law, who was in Arizona at the time, was coming to the house and might be armed.

Chester then took a small caliber semi-automatic handgun and two magazines out of his father's safe and hid them, the report states.

It is unclear what the argument between the family entailed, how his brother-in-law allegedly threatened Chester or whether Chester planned to use the firearm for protection.

The brother-in-law could not be reached for comment Friday.

According to the report, Chester gave Veliz the gun Wednesday but left sometime while his friend killed his parents.

Chester fled in the couple's Dodge Journey but was arrested Thursday morning on the Arizona side of Hoover Dam. He admitted to Las Vegas police to conspiring to kill his parents but said Veliz pulled the trigger.

Chester made no mention in the police report of intimidating Veliz into committing the acts.

There is no mention in either police report of any abuse over time by Chester's parents.

The neighbors whom Chester confided in, however, said the teen had also described verbal abuse his father inflicted upon him.

"His dad had names that he would call him -- a lazy (expletive), ugly," the woman said.

The couple, who have grandchildren, said Chester told them he wished the couple were his parents.

"He needed help. I couldn't give it to him. I'm not qualified. My wife isn't qualified," the man said.

The woman said she is saddened by what happened, but that Chester deserves whatever punishment he gets.

"I loved Timmy like a son," the woman said. "He was good to me. He was good to my husband. I want people to understand this wasn't a crazed kid that was like this all the time."

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440. Contact reporter Maggie Lillis at mlillis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.

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