Man arrested in connection with January homicide in central Las Vegas
A confidential informant led to the arrest of a 42-year-old man whom Las Vegas police believe stabbed a fellow homeless man, stuffed his body in a recycling container and attempted to set it on fire, according to an arrest report.
The Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that Anthony Nash was arrested Thursday without incident in connection with the death of 44-year-old Asibayo Whitfield, whose body was found Jan. 25 in a recycling container in the backyard of a southeast Las Vegas Valley home.
About 9:45 a.m. Jan. 25, police were called to a residence in the 5400 block of Viscount Carlson Drive, near Russell Road and Maryland Parkway, where Whitfield’s body was found.
The Clark County coroner’s office said the body was found in a recycling container in the backyard of the home. The death was ruled a homicide caused by sharp force injuries.
According to Nash’s arrest report, released Friday, a man found Whitfield’s body when he went to clean up the backyard at a home owned by his father. The man saw the recycling bin in the yard, and when he opened the lid, he saw what appeared to be a “human foot sticking up from underneath a blanket,” the report said.
Police believe that Whitfield was “dumped into the bin” head first, and officers found a boot, a blanket and a piece of “slightly burned gray industrial carpet” in the bin as well, the report said. There was a stab wound on Whitfield’s shoulder, another wound to his abdomen, and a burn to his buttock that appeared to have been caused by a “small fire which was started in the bin,” the report said.
On Jan. 28, Whitfield’s friend said the 44-year-old was homeless and “had threatened other homeless people in the area,” the report said. The friend said he thought Whitfield was living in an abandoned home in the area with a man named ‘Broadway” and that Whitfield was also associated with a man named “Oakland.”
On Feb. 17, a woman was stopped by police and told detectives that she knew Whitfield, who also went by the name “Biyo,” had been “stabbed with his own knife.”
Police then searched an abandoned home near Maryland Parkway and Tropicana Avenue, where they found a large piece of blood-stained “gray industrial type carpet,” as well as a bloodstained mattress and bloodstained clothing, including a boot that matched the one found in the bin with Whitfield’s body.
Documents with Whitfield’s name on them also were found in the empty pool at the home, the report said.
While investigating a burglary on Thursday, detectives spoke with a confidential source who alleged that Anthony Nash, who went by the nickname “Broadway,” was involved in Whitfield’s homicide, the report said. The source said that Nash stabbed the 44-year-old with Whitfield’s own knife during a fight.
The source said Nash and “Oakland” then put Whitfield’s body in the recycling bin with the other items, and both men left the home with the bin.
When Nash was arrested on Thursday, he confirmed that he knew Whitfield but declined to answer further questions, the report said. It was unclear Friday if police had identified who “Oakland” was.
Nash faces a charge of murder with a deadly weapon, and he is slated to appear in court on Tuesday, court records show. He remained in the Clark County Detention Center without bail on Friday afternoon.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-2040. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Glenn Puit contributed to this report.
