RJ writer Akiya Dillon’s most memorable stories of 2025

Here are five highlights from the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s breaking news reporter Akiya Dillon, who has covered police, crime and courts.

Henderson police didn’t share key details before wide search for teen

A few days after the New Year’s holiday, the Henderson Police Department and Red Rock Search and Rescue conducted an extensive search for 17-year-old Jennaleah Hin, reported missing and endangered by her mother and stepfather.

The Review-Journal reported at the time that 30 to 40 officers and volunteers canvassed a swath of the open desert while volunteer residents helped search parks.

Hin was later found dead from a gunshot wound in the desert southwest of a Henderson subdivision. Her death was ruled a suicide, and her biological father, Hina Hin, shared the police report about her disappearance with the Review-Journal.

The Henderson Police Department had refused to release this document, which indicated that Jennaleah might have taken a gun from her home when she left on December 30, 2024. The public, who participated in the search, was not informed that she might have been armed — or that she had left behind a suicide letter.

When asked why the public wasn’t told Jennaleah may have had a gun, Henderson police directed reporters to file a records request. Police then declined to comment, citing an open investigation, but said they remain “committed to transparency.”

Cybertruck blast 911 calls released: ‘This is the craziest thing I’ve seen’

On the morning of Jan. 1, 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger fatally shot himself in the head right before his rented Tesla Cybertruck, which was parked near the entrance of Trump International, exploded, authorities said. Seven people were injured.

In 911 audio recordings released by police days later, hotel guests and onlookers described the explosion.

“I am staying at the Trump hotel here in Las Vegas, and a really big explosion noise went off,” one caller said during the 34-minute compilation of calls posted to the Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Records Unit account on YouTube. “I can see all the smoke from my room.”

The hotel was evacuated, and many guests went to Resorts World, he said. According to a Clark County spokesperson, two people were taken to a hospital. Clark County Deputy Fire Chief Billy Samuels later said they had been released.

After the explosion, Metro held multiple news conferences. Police said that Livelsberger, an active-duty soldier, had used ChatGPT to plan the explosion and that the results “could have been much worse.”

Videos Metro provided showed gasoline canisters, camp fuel cans and firework mortars in the bed of the exploded truck.

In a post on X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote on the day of the explosion: “The whole Tesla senior team is investigating this matter right now. … We’ve never seen anything like this.”

In a later post, he wrote, “We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself.”

Wife of ‘Ghost Adventures’ star sentenced to prison for conspiring to kill husband

Victoria Goodwin, the now soon-to-be ex-wife of “Ghost Adventures” star Aaron Goodwin, was sentenced to three to seven and a half years in prison after she, with the assistance of a Florida inmate she had been communicating with online, pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill her husband.

The woman’s arrest report said that she was living in Las Vegas with her husband, known for his role in the reality television series “Ghost Adventures,” when their relationship began to sour.

Before the judge handed the sentence down, Victoria Goodwin sobbed, calling her crimes “stupid” and “regrettable.” Afterward, Aaron Goodman shared emotional testimony, saying he had been unaware of the defendant’s plot until months later, when detectives contacted him.

After the hearing, Aaron Goodwin declined to speak with reporters. A Review-Journal reporter in the same elevator as the reality TV star overheard Aaron Goodwin tearfully tell his lawyer, “All I wanted to do was hug her, but it’s all so wrong.”

Teen who fatally shot student posts online threats, victim’s father says

A 16-year-old boy spent eight months in a juvenile detention facility for the fatal shooting of Bonanza High School senior Keanu Enright before being paroled. Immediately after the juvenile offender was released, he and his twin brother began posting threatening messages and brandishing weapons on Instagram, Keanu’s father, Thomas Enright, said.

One of the Instagram stories, screenshots of which Thomas Enright provided, showed the 16-year-old, whom the Review-Journal is not identifying because he was not tried as an adult, holding what appeared to be a handgun, with a caption that read: “We beat murder charges, whose next?”

Days after the Review-Journal reported on the matter, authorities searched the juvenile offender’s home and discovered a gun. The boy later admitted to owning a BB gun, and a family court judge revoked his probation, sending him back to a youth correctional facility.

Former NBA player in court after indictment: ‘He has a serious gambling problem’

Damon Jones, a former NBA player and coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, was among dozens charged in a federal investigation into Mafia-linked gambling schemes. Federal prosecutors stated that Jones, who lives in Texas but was arrested in Las Vegas, participated in two criminal cases starting in 2019, involving rigged sports bets and poker games that defrauded victims of millions of dollars.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Clay Plummer said Jones has a “very serious gambling problem.”

An indictment from the Eastern District of New York stated that Jones acted as a “face card” in the schemes, meaning his professional success and status were used to attract victims. He was ordered to refrain from gambling, including online games, while out of custody.

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.