Serial killer suspect Burkett to face death penalty

Clark County prosecutors will seek capital punishment for a 63-year-old Mississippi man charged with killing three women in Las Vegas between 1978 and 1994, the district attorney's death penalty committee decided Thursday.

Serial killer suspect Nathan Burkett was linked through DNA and other evidence to the deaths of 22-year-old Barbara Ann Cox on April 22, 1978; 27-year-old Tina Gayle Mitchell on Feb. 20, 1994; and a Los Angeles woman, Althea Williams, also in 1994.

The death penalty committee, whose meetings are not open to the public, chose not to seek capital punishment for four defendants in two other murder cases, including the case against Las Vegas firefighter George Tiaffay and the homeless man police said he hired for $600 to kill his estranged wife.

The committee looks at three factors when considering capital punishment: whether there are aggravating factors in the case, whether a jury would impose the death penalty as punishment and whether a conviction would stand up under appeal.

Burkett has twice been convicted of manslaughter in the slayings of two women, including his mother.

Prosecutors have argued that all three women in Las Vegas died by strangulation and were found close to Burkett's apartment. Burkett even "discovered" Cox's body, they said.

Police have connected Burkett to Cox and Mitchell by DNA.

Tiaffay, 41, and Noel "Greyhound" Stevens, 37, were indicted last month with several counts, including murder with use of a deadly weapon and conspiracy.

The two defendants were arrested in October in the Sept. 29 slaying of Shauna Tiaffay, 46, a Palms cocktail waitress whose body was found in her Summerlin home.

Stevens testified to the grand jury that he was hired by Tiaffay and that he hit the victim in the head 17 times with a hammer.

A trial date has not been set in the case.

The committee also ruled not to seek the death penalty against a teen couple charged with fatally stabbing the father of one of the teens.

Jose Martinez, 19 and Nicole Meza, 17, are charged with murder and robbery in the Aug. 13 death of Meza's father.

Jaime Meza-Guzman, 45, bled to death after being stabbed multiple times at a home in the 2500 block of San Marcos Street, near Carey Avenue and Pecos Road, according to the Clark County coroner's office.

The case is set for trial on July 8 before Judge David Barker.

All five defendants are in custody.

Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@review journal.com or 702-380-1039.