Man indicted in deadly 2005 attack on Las Vegas 7-Eleven clerk
Jose Manuel Diaz spent 10 years in a Mexican prison for murder before he was indicted Thursday in the 2005 stabbing death of a Las Vegas 7-Eleven co-worker, prosecutors said.
Authorities had identified Diaz, now 34, in the slaying of 21-year-old Joshua David Sword, a fellow clerk, immediately after his bloody body, with more than 120 stab wounds, was found in a back office of the store, the tip of a knife stuck in his head.
But Diaz quickly fled to Mexico, where he was convicted of another killing.
He returned to the United States after being released and was arrested in the Los Angeles area late last year before being sent to Las Vegas in early December to face charges in Sword’s death, according to court records.
In the early morning hours of Dec. 19, 2005, a patron walked inside the store on the 2300 block of south Rainbow Boulevard to purchase a soda and found no one at the register. The customer called an 800 number to notify the store owners.
One of the owners later found Sword’s body in the blood-covered office and turned over the surveillance video to police, pointing out Diaz.
Authorities said Diaz was caught on surveillance video as he approached the apparently sleeping Sword. Diaz can be seen repeatedly stabbing Sword for 5 minutes and 32 seconds, according to prosecutors.
Sword initially tried to fight back before he slumped to the floor, as the attacker plunged the knife into the victim’s head and neck.
The attacker was seen on the video removing his clothes, washing himself in the sink, dropping the broken knife and walking calmly out the door. A motive is unclear, as the two had no known problems with each other and nothing was taken from the store, said Chief Deputy District Attorney David Stanton, who called Diaz an ongoing threat to the community and a risk to flee again.
Diaz is being held without bail in the Clark County Detention Center.
The prosecutor said it was unknown whether Diaz is a United States citizen.
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.
