North Las Vegas woman killed in murder-suicide remembered

An outpouring of love for Sonya White flowed on social media this week, following her death Wednesday morning in what police say was a murder-suicide in the central valley.

“Rest in peace Sonya,” one Facebook user wrote. “You didn’t deserve to be taken away so young.”

Detectives believe that Shiloh J. Delph, 22, shot White, 23, before turning the gun on himself early Wednesday morning, the Metropolitan Police Department has said. About 2:40 a.m., a driver heading north on Eastern Avenue, between Russell Road and Hacienda Avenue. called 911 after witnessing a car hit a curb and cross all the travel lanes before coming to a stop.

The 911 caller reported that the windows had been shot out of the car, and the two occupants appeared to be dead. Both White and Delph died from gunshot wounds to the head, the Clark County coroner’s office has said. Delph’s death was ruled a suicide, while White’s was ruled a homicide.

Friends of White didn’t respond to requests for comment on Friday, and her family declined an interview. Some family members appeared to take to Twitter and Facebook to express their grief.

“My cousin Sonya White was the one who was murdered in the murder suicide that recently happened in Las Vegas,” one Twitter user wrote. “I do not blame the gun, I blame the man who took my beautiful cousin away from us.”

“Hearing the terrible news & my heart aches,” posted a Twitter user who appeared to be White’s former high school classmate. “Rest easy Sonya White.”

According to White’s Facebook page, she attended Las Vegas Academy and lived in North Las Vegas.

In an October post, one of White’s Facebook friends wrote, “I still think you’re an amazing human being” on her profile.

“No YOU are,” White responded.

Delph, who went by his middle name “Jeremiah,” went to Palo Verde High School, where he was on the swim team, ran cross country track, and was a member of ROTC, said 20-year-old Bryce Rogers.

Rogers said he and Delph were both on the school’s swim team and cross country teams, but he had lost touch with his former teammate after high school. He said he saw on social media that Delph joined the Navy after high school.

Hearing the news of how Delph died was a shock, Rogers said. He remembered Delph as the friendly teammate who helped him with his running technique.

“I saw it was a murder-suicide, and I was just really heartbroken and just confused,” he said, later adding that “it’s just so sad to hear that Jeremiah’s life ended in a whirlwind of tragedy.”

Palo Verde’s cross country coach, Nick Meis, said Delph was one of his “top runners” during his first year coaching at the school in 2012.

“He was a very strong personality,” Meis said. “He worked hard and the kids, they followed along with his work ethic as well.”

Neither Meis nor Rogers knew White, they said.

Delph’s brother did not respond to request for an interview Friday night. “My brother was an amazing person,” he wrote Thursday in a text to the Review-Journal.

White and Delph had been seen together at Town Square Las Vegas prior to the shooting, police have said. Further details about the shooting were not available Friday.

White’s death was the 26th homicide in Clark County this year, and the 16th investigated by Metro, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal records.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.