Las Vegas police tie man’s death to person in affair with wife

Las Vegas police believe a man whose decaying body was found dumped last month in Amargosa Valley was killed by the person with whom his wife was having an affair, arrest documents show.

Cristobal Ortiz-Hernandez, 33, was taken into custody March 26, following an interview at Metropolitan Police Department headquarters. His arrest came about three months after Las Vegas and Nye County police suspect he beat Levnell Johnson to death.

The investigation into the killing was a joint effort between Metro and the Nye County Sheriff’s Office.

Johnson’s partially mummified body was found on March 1, lying face down in the desert near the intersection of U.S. Highway 95 and Highway 373 in Nye County’s Amargosa Valley, according to Ortiz-Hernandez’s arrest report.

He died of blunt force injuries to the head, the Clark County coroner’s office determined, and his death was a ruled a homicide.

Investigators were led to Ortiz-Hernandez after speaking with Johnson’s wife to notify her of his death, according to the report. During that conversation, the woman, whose name is redacted in the report, lied about her relationship with Johnson, falsely identifying herself to investigators as his ex-girlfriend.

Two days later, while speaking to Johnson’s sister, police learned that the woman actually was his wife and that she had been having an affair with a co-worker, later identified as Ortiz-Hernandez.

The woman has not been charged in her husband’s death, court records show, but Metro homicide Lt. Ray Spencer told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Tuesday that the investigation was still ongoing.

Over the week or so after the conversation with Johnson’s sister, detectives conducted surveillance on Johnson’s wife, the report showed. During that period, they noticed a blue Nissan Xterra frequently coming and going from the woman’s home.

Detectives ran the plate on that Nissan, and learned it belonged to Ortiz-Hernandez.

The registration check also revealed that Ortiz-Hernandez had been pulled over for speeding in December on U.S. 95, not far from where Johnson’s body was dumped, according to the report.

This led detectives back to the area, the report stated. There, they interviewed a woman who works at the Area 51 Alien Center, one of just two gas stations located within several miles of where Johnson was found.

The woman was shown a photo of the couple, who she recognized and said she had seen most recently come through the area sometime in February, according to the report.

On March 22, detectives obtained a search warrant to swab the woman’s Hummer H2 and Ortiz-Hernandez’s Nissan.

The two were interviewed separately, but each denied being involved in Johnson’s killing and told detectives they would not find blood in either car.

But the swabs taken from the woman’s Hummer ultimately tested positive for traces of blood, the report showed.

Presented with this evidence during a March 26 follow-up interview at Metro headquarters, Ortiz-Hernandez admitted to police that he and Johnson had gotten into a fight in December, according to the report.

He said he pushed Johnson during the fight, causing him to fall head-first into a metal gate and knocking him unconscious. Ortiz-Hernandez told police he then banged Johnson’s head into the gate at least 10 more times after the fact, according to the report.

After the attack, Ortiz-Hernandez said he loaded the victim’s body into the woman’s Hummer and left Johnson in the desert.

His preliminary hearing is set for April 11 in Las Vegas Justice Court, records show.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.