Man arrested in deaths of five in Northern Nevada

FERNLEY — Michael Bergman heard the snap of fire about 6 a.m. Monday when he looked out from his Jessica Lane home and saw his neighbor’s house on fire.

He snapped a photo of what turned out to be the location of the suspicious deaths of an older couple whom he had known for years.

“I was sitting out here watching the sun rise and I heard the cracking of fire and no more than two or three minutes later the fire department came ripping down,” he said.

“I’ve grown up on this road since I was nine years old,” Bergman said, sitting on his patio across the street from the crime scene. “This is the first crazy thing that has ever happened on our road.”

Bergman said he did not hear gunshots before he saw the fire.

A few houses away on Tamsen Road, two more people were found dead in suspicious circumstances.

Adding to the mystery was a fifth body found at the Mustang exit in Washoe County east of Sparks that is believed by law enforcement officials to be related to the Fernley victims.

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that a person of interest, Jeremiah Bean, 25, of Fernley has been arrested and booked on burglary charges as a result of his arrest Monday at the Tamsen address. His bail was set at $50,000.

Detectives warned residents to remain vigilant Tuesday even after the arrest, saying there might be another suspect on the loose.

Investigators found the bodies of Robert Pape and Dorothy Pape, both 84, early Monday in a house in Fernley, a city of 19,000 about 30 miles east of Reno. Angie Duff, 67, and another man were found dead in a home a half-block away. Deputies said they also found a man dead Monday in a ditch along the Interstate 80 exit for the infamous Mustang Ranch brothel.

Lyon County Sheriff Allen Deil described the attacks as “absolutely shocking to us.”

“It is senseless. The people we have talked to, they don’t know whether to be paranoid, scared to death, shocked, angry,” he told reporters at a midday news conference in Fernley.

Bean has a local arrest record and a felony conviction related to burglary and attempted grand larceny, deputies said. He has also acknowledged gang ties.

“He had some evidence that came from one of the residences where we had two victims,” Deil said. “He was in one of those residences where there were two deceased individuals and had some of their property when he was arrested.”

By Tuesday afternoon, investigators had collected an “exhaustive list of evidence,” he said.

Authorities were searching for possible accomplices and warned residents to be on the lookout for strangers in the area.

“We’re still trying to determine whether we have one or more suspects. There are indications there may be,” the sheriff said.

“What we don’t want to do is establish some sense of paranoia, but we want people to be aware. By all means, lock your doors and windows. ... Notify us in the middle of the night if the dogs start barking.”

Investigators don’t believe the killings were gang related and there was no evidence of drugs at either Fernley home, Deil said.

Authorities had not recovered any firearm or other weapon or instrument that could have been used in the deaths, and it’s not apparent how the victims died. Autopsies were pending at the Washoe County medical examiner’s office in Reno.

“There is a lot of speculation on what the cause of death is,” Deil said. “I don’t know for certain.”

Police are looking for a white pickup truck they believe was driven by the victim found near Mustang — a 1998 GMC Silverado with Nevada plates, 336-UNB. KRNV-TV reported that victim was a 52-year-old man from Spanish Springs, a Reno suburb.

Bergman, 34, said he knew the elderly male Jessica Lane victim well, but that his wife was ill and did not get out as much.

The house is set well apart from others in the eastern part of town.

Directly behind it is a public school.

The male victim was usually up at 5:30 a.m. and working in his yard, he said.

“He was just a really nice man,” Bergman said. “He never bothered anyone.”

Bergman said his neighbor’s truck was gone Tuesday when he got up, and it appeared similar to a photo he saw of a vehicle found at the site of the Mustang crime scene.

Associated Press writer Michelle Rindels contributed to this report. Contact Capital Bureau reporter Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900.