A murder victim could have survived, if paperwork had moved faster

If the arrest warrant Sean Szymborski faced March 16 had been issued a day earlier, his North Las Vegas roommate might still be alive.

That’s because two days before the 55-year-old roommate’s slaying March 18 — for which Szymborski, 23, was arrested — police were at the doorstep of the same 4424 Nestos Valley Avenue home for a separate call involving Szymborski.

That March 16 call involved a disturbance but wasn’t an arresting offense, North Las Vegas police spokesman Aaron Patty said. But hours after officers left the North Las Vegas home about 4 that morning, an unrelated Henderson arrest warrant for Szymborski was dropped into the state system at 9:29 a.m. and suddenly searchable by North Las Vegas police.

But it was too late.

The graveyard-shift officers who visited the home before dawn were now off-duty; the day shift officers who were working when Szymborski’s warrant — for a misdemeanor — popped up weren’t responsible for checking if random warrants had appeared.

And the fact the warrant itself was technically created March 15 in Henderson but not viewable to North Las Vegas police until early the next day was because of a “very typical administrative delay,” Patty said.

“There’s a series of events and paperwork involved as far as getting this paperwork published into the state system,” he said. “Probably in the movies, it would’ve been different; the timing would’ve been perfect. But this is real life.”

He added it was “unfortunate timing” and “no one’s fault.”

Henderson Municipal Court spokesman Keith Paul said records prove the arrest warrant was published into the state system at 9:29 a.m., just as Patty said.

“If North Las Vegas typed in Szymborski’s name at that point in time, it would’ve popped up, but not at 4 a.m.,” Paul said.

He added the warrant was issued because Szymborski failed to take domestic battery counseling, a court-mandated alternative sentencing that stemmed from a 2014 domestic dispute involving different roommates.

Had the warrant been published a few hours earlier, or on the day prior, “we absolutely could have picked him up,” Patty said of Szymborski.

According to a police report, both the roommate who died March 18, Peter H. Stebbins, and another roommate, Craig Johnson, 71, were hand-cuffed, duct-taped and beaten at about 11:45 a.m. as Szymborski screamed in rage.

Stebbins died from asphyxiation and manual strangulation, the coroner’s office ruled.

Johnson’s injuries ranged from a removed upper lip, lacerations inside his mouth and bruising of the brain. He was treated at Centennial Hills hospital and has since been released.

Szymborski was found in the home’s immediate area that Friday and interviewed by detectives. As he spoke, police ran his name through the state system per protocol, Patty said, and the warrant popped up.

Szymborski went on to tell police he snapped but ultimately planned both attacks, adding he acted alone and “did not feel bad about it,” the report read. He faces one count of murder, one count of battery with substantial bodily harm and two counts of kidnapping.

“Sean has been sick for a very long time,” Szymborski’s mother, Diana Thompson, and her husband, Garry Thompson, wrote in an email to the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week. “The first signs of his issues began around the age of 6.”

The Thompsons said Szymborski hears voices, has delusions and has been placed on many Legal 2000 holds, which allow authorities to hold people who may be a danger to themselves or others. It was unclear whether Szymborski has been diagnosed with a specific condition.

Because the holds are medical in nature the department couldn’t say how many times Szymborski had been held, Patty said.

For some time, Szymborski was living with the Thompsons, but the couple had to evict him in December because he kept threatening his mother and worrying neighbors, the husband said. After that, Szymborski spent time in two different valley mental hospitals before being released to a group home in January.

The next day, Szymborski left the group home and found a want ad for the Nestos Valley house.

“Diana and I do not condone Sean’s actions in any way,” he said in the email, after summarizing Szymborski’s mental health history. “We are completely shocked, disgusted and appalled by it.”

Had the timing of the warrant and the disturbance call been different, the husband said, “Peter would have still been alive, Craig would not have been injured and Sean would have been locked up and getting the help he so desperately needs.”

Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Find her on Twitter: @rachelacrosby