Man who killed Las Vegas elderly couple gets 24 years to life; bodies found in storage unit

A judge ordered a sentence of 24 years to life in prison for a man who killed an elderly couple, then put their bodies in a storage unit funded by checks he stole from them.

Robert Dunn, 62, pleaded guilty in March to counts of murder, robbery and theft under the Alford decision, meaning he admitted only that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him.

Dunn had previously faced the death penalty, but in his plea deal, prosecutors agreed his sentence would be capped at 24 years to life and District Judge Carli Kierny ruled that Dunn would serve the maximum, with about 10 years credit for time served.

Prosecutors said Dunn killed Joaquin and Eleanor Sierra in 2003, then collected their Social Security benefits. Their mummified bodies were discovered in trash bins in a storage locker in 2014, packed with kitty litter and concrete.

Although Dunn’s defense lawyer said there were problems determining cause of death, the Sierras’ bodies had puncture wounds and identical amounts of sedatives, according to grand jury testimony.

“I hope Mr. Dunn has thought about his judgment day because I have,” said Donajean Baxter, whose great uncle was Joaquin Sierra.

She added: “Surely in (Dunn’s) Bible studies, he must have read: ‘You reap what you sow.’ So from here on out, every morning when you wake up, you’re going to be one day closer to that review. I have every confidence that you will get everything you deserve.”

‘Swindled and betrayed’

Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Hamner said Dunn, who has an “extensive” criminal history, could quote the Bible and used faith to exploit people. He was an identity thief, stalked women and stole the musical instruments of his brother’s children when Dunn’s brother allowed Dunn to stay with him.

“In my career, I haven’t seen a defendant who has swindled and betrayed people’s trust for so long as Robert Dunn,” the prosecutor said.

At one point, said Hamner, Dunn kidnapped his mother, “savagely” beat her, broke her bones and made her essentially a prisoner in a motel.

“We are so fortunate that he was arrested when he was, because he was on the verge of doing it to another person,” Hamner said.

That would-be victim was Mary Pendergast, who previously said, “I was another one of his 55-gallon drum cat sand projects.”

Dunn’s case is one of the oldest in the Clark County District Court, according to the prosecutor, who attributed the plea deal to the time that has passed, the death of others involved in the case and Dunn’s health.

“He has earned every minute of a life sentence and he’s earned every minute of 24 years,” Hamner said. “I struggle to find anything that really mitigates what he has done over his career.”

The Sierras reached out to family for help, saying they couldn’t access their bank accounts, Hamner said. Baxter went to their home with authorities to try to bring them home, he said, but they had just moved out and she never saw them again.

Hamner suggested Dunn could commit more crimes. “He can talk his way into someone else’s life,” he said.

Attorneys: No cause of death

Defense attorney Scott Coffee said it took almost a decade for Dunn to trust him enough to resolve the case.

Coffee said there were problems with the case, including that the coroner’s office could not find cause and manner of death and a lab in Texas was unable to do so either. He called the stabbing allegations “spurious.”

“And Robert’s problem, of course, is always that there’s two bodies in a storage shed,” Coffee said.

Hamner said two medical examiners who conducted autopsies in the case died.

“The reason why the cause of death is undetermined is that because the bodies sat in barrels for 11, 12 years decomposing, their level of decomposition was so bad that it was hard to make a definitive cause of death,” he said, but both Sierras had sharp force injuries in the same general area of their rib cage.

‘I loved them’

Dunn denied robbing or murdering the couple and suggested that doing so wasn’t necessary because the Sierras were generous when he and his mother needed something.

“To quote Mark Twain, when in doubt, tell the truth,” Dunn said. “The Sierras, Jack and Ellie, were my friends. I loved them like they were family. And for some inexplicable reason, they loved me too.”

The couple helped him care for his mother, he said. Dunn said he was “more sorry about the situation than you will ever know.”

“I take full responsibility for my part in the thefts, but I want it fully understood that we stole money from the United States Treasury,” Dunn said. “The checking account was just a tool.”

The prosecutor said it was a lie Dunn didn’t steal from the Sierras.

Dunn said other people, like his now-deceased mother, knew the Sierras were dead, but took money from their account anyway and should have been punished, too.

Hamner doubts there were other conspirators, but speculated that if there was a co-conspirator, it would be Dunn’s mother.

‘I found Joaquin beaten up’

Baxter said Eleanor Sierra had called her mother and said the couple was in Reno and had been robbed.

“I found Joaquin beaten up, black and blue,” on a visit to Reno, she said. “Ellie said he’d fallen, but the purple handprints on his arms and the bruises on his face said something different.”

Joaquin was “a kind, sweet-natured family man” who made art, served in the Marines and cared for his blind mother.

Baxter’s description of Eleanor Sierra was less charitable. “She was a weirdo,” she said, as people in the coutroom laughed. “I don’t even know what to say about her. Odd personality.”

Coffee asked Baxter to confirm she had reported Eleanor Sierra as the abuser. She denied it, but said after court that Eleanor Sierra would mistreat her uncle and throw his food in the trash if he didn’t come to the table quickly enough.

Baxter’s experience has made it hard for her to trust people, she said. “The rage that I have felt changed who I was and who I am.”

Coffee hopes his client will eventually go in front of the parole board, but said Dunn’s health is poor.

Dunn, who used a wheelchair in court, suffers from diabetes and can barely walk, according to his lawyer.

Hamner said he is glad Dunn will likely die in prison. “That’s the best thing to keep the community safe,” he said after court.

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.