‘We’ve gone too far’: Witnesses testify in Las Vegas man’s torture, killing
PAHRUMP — Mike Ward was walking through the remote desert in Cathedral Canyon when he came upon two others standing over a body, sparking an investigation that led to three people charged with murder in the torture and fatal shooting of a Las Vegas man.
“The one gentleman who stood closest to the body seemed proud of what he done,” Ward testified Thursday, recounting the Aug. 1 morning. “He smiled at me, like he did something good.”
Ward said he had been sleeping in his car near the canyon, a former roadside attraction that has fallen to disrepair and vandalism, when he heard gunshots, which were not unusual for the area. So Ward did not step out to investigate until just after sunrise.
That’s when he discovered 27-year-old Roy Jagger’s body.
At first glance, Ward thought there was an “old carpet” on the canyon floor. When he moved closer, he saw a naked and bloody body with two men standing near it, Ward testified.
He called 911 after the two men drove away. Within 36 hours of that initial call, Nye County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Las Vegas resident Heather Pate, 27; her boyfriend, 36-year-old Kevin Dent; and her former boyfriend, 37-year-old Brad Mehn, in connection with Jaggers’ death, officials have said.
Jaggers suffered injuries to his legs and right hand, with gunshot wounds, stab wounds, burn wounds and blunt force trauma to his head, according to arrest reports.
Jaggers was lured to Pate’s home on July 31, where he was handcuffed and forced into her car, the reports said. Pate and Dent drove Jaggers to the Bell Vista shooting range in Pahrump, where Mehn met them, the reports said.
Jaggers was tortured with a blowtorch, knives, baton and axe, then was stripped of his clothes and forced to walk off a cliff, authorities have said.
Mehn then shot Jaggers multiple times, the reports said.
A medical examiner with the Clark County coroner’s office testified he found more than 30 shotgun bullets and fragments in Jaggers’ body.
After more than six hours of witness testimony Thursday, the preliminary hearing is expected to finish on Friday. Pahrump Justice of the Peace Kent Jasperson is expected to decide whether prosecutors have enough evidence to present the charges against Pate, Dent and Mehn to a jury.
Norman Mullet, Mehn’s acquaintance and employee, testified that early Aug. 1, Mehn called and asked him for help.
“He said, ‘We caught a child molester and they wanted to teach him a lesson; we beat the crap out of him, but I think we’ve gone too far,’” Mullet said, recounting the conversation.
Police have said that Pate and Dent lured Jaggers to Pate’s Las Vegas apartment before kidnapping him and torturing him in the desert with Mehn because they believed Jaggers had hurt one of Pate’s children. Mullet testified Thursday that Mehn did not give him details about the allegation.
Mullet said he and Mehn met with Dent at Cathedral Canyon that morning, and Mullet said he also saw Pate in a different vehicle at the scene. When the three men went to the canyon floor, Mullet said he believed Jaggers was dead.
“They were freaking out trying to figure out what to do with (the body),” Mullet said. “I got pissed because, excuse my language, the kid was dead and I was told he wasn’t.”
Mullet said he went to the canyon to help Jaggers and walked away after he realized the man was dead.
On the drive back to Pahrump, Mullet said he told Mehn to turn himself into police.
Mehn gave Mullet a toolbox containing a hammer and what Mullet believed to be an ice pick, he said. He also took two trash bags from Mehn and threw them out in a dumpster. Mehn later asked his friend to “get rid” of a shotgun, but Mullet said he refused.
Pate’s friend, Brandon Reinhart, testified that late on July 31, Pate called and asked him to babysit because there was an “emergency.”
When he arrived at the home, Reinhart said he saw Jaggers lying on the ground in handcuffs, with a swollen ear.
After a objection from the defense, Reinhart spoke with a public defender and declined to testify further to avoid incriminating himself.
Detective Cory Fowles testified that investigators did not test the shotgun believed to have been used to kill Jaggers for fingerprints or DNA and did not test the suspects’ hands for gunshot residue.
“That was an oversight,” Fowles said.
Jaggers’ family listened to hours of testimony. His mother, Katherine “Kassy” Robinson, briefly took the stand and was asked if she was shown a picture of her son’s body after his death.
But the picture she was handed on Thursday was more graphic than the one she had previously seen. Robinson gasped and retched after seeing the picture.
After collecting herself, she identified her son for the prosecution.
“That’s my baby,” she said, her voice shaking.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.
