Man confesses to 2003 cold case killing in Las Vegas

Nearly 18 years after Paul Makula was found dead in his downtown Las Vegas apartment, a man has confessed to his killing, according to a recently released police document.

Duane Etsitty, 41, faces a murder charge after he told investigators in Salt Lake City, Utah, that he wanted to confess to a 2003 killing in Las Vegas, the document shows. After contacting the Las Vegas police cold case unit, Utah detectives interviewed Etsitty, who told them that he grabbed a folding knife and sliced Makula’s throat as they were sitting in Makula’s apartment in November 2003.

Etsitty, who said he was friends with Makula and often drank beer with him, told detectives that he stood over Makula’s body and started “yelling at himself as to why he had stabbed his friend,” the document states. He then took the knife and threw it onto the roof of a building that has since been demolished, he told police.

Detectives showed Etsitty a photo of Makula, and he started weeping and apologizing to the picture, according to the document. Las Vegas investigators determined that the details Etsitty shared about Makula’s killing could have only be known by the killer and issued a warrant for his arrest.

Makula, a retiree who lived alone, was found by a neighbor on the morning of Nov. 18, 2003, in his apartment, located on the 200 block of South 11th Street, near Fremont Street, according to Las Vegas police. He was 73, the Clark County coroner’s office said Tuesday. His cause of death was multiple stab wounds of the face, neck and chest, the office determined at the time.

The homicide was relegated to cold case status after detectives were unable to identify any leads or suspects.

Records show Etsitty was booked Sunday into the Clark County Detention Center, where he remained Tuesday. A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 27.

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.