Las Vegas police, family plead for tips on 2016 double homicide

Las Vegas police and the family of a 21-year-old woman killed in a double homicide made a public plea Thursday for anyone with information on the cold case killing to come forward.

In the nearly two years since Sydney Land, 21, and Nehemiah Kauffman, 20, were found dead inside of a southwest valley apartment, detectives have run down “dozens and dozens” of leads in an attempt to solve their killings, Metropolitan Police Department homicide Lt. Ray Spencer said at a news conference. But police still don’t have a motive or a suspect and have essentially returned to square one in the investigation, he said.

“We do not know who committed this murder, and that’s why we’re here today asking for the public’s assistance in trying to solve it,” said Spencer, standing in front of Land’s family and a poster of her face outside of Metro headquarters.

Spencer urged anybody with information to share it with police in any number of ways, including providing a tip online or making an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.

“But you have to do it,” Spencer said.

Land and Kauffman were found shot to death inside a unit at the Union Apartments, 4450 S. Hualapai Way, on Oct. 27, 2016.

Since then, Land’s mother, Connie, has paid for local billboard ads bearing her daughter’s face, spoken with multiple news outlets and “exhausted every avenue” in an effort to solve the pair’s killing, she said. On Thursday, the mother asked once more for the public’s help.

“We need someone to break this silence, to come forward so our family, the Kauffman family and all the other families that are being victimized by the people that did this to these kids are put away and these families are protected also,” Connie Land said.

The plea was to the public in general, but Spencer said police “know for a fact” that a handful of people have information that would solve the case.

Police think those individuals may have ties to a person of interest, he said. Detectives have spoken with members of that group and think that those people are withholding information from them, he said.

Spencer confirmed that Shane Valentine, 25, was still a person of interest in the double homicide and that investigators have not ruled him out as a suspect. He added that investigators have identified a second person they are “looking at” but declined to provide specifics.

Valentine was identified as a person of interest in the weeks following the shooting.

For those who have information but haven’t shared it, Spencer made an emotional appeal, asking how they would feel if it was their family that was waiting for answers in their loved one’s death.

“Do the right thing, reach out to us and allow two grieving families the justice that they deserve,” he said.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.