Metro: Woman found slain near strip mall just ‘minding her business’
The death of a Las Vegas woman found stabbed and beaten behind an east valley shopping center over the weekend was unprovoked and vicious, police said Tuesday.
Metro homicide detectives renewed calls for the public’s help identifying a man who may be responsible. Meanwhile, friends and family of Kathy Shines ask how a stranger could do such a thing to a warm and generous woman.
Police also released more surveillance images and videos from the Sunrise Manor Center strip mall, at 3310 Nellis Blvd., near Desert Inn Road on Tuesday. Just three days earlier, a store employee found the dead woman near the dumpsters in the back of the lot and called for police about 6 a.m.
Police initially said she was found with apparent neck trauma. The Clark County coroner later said Shines died from multiple stab wounds.
Shines, 54, was collecting cans to recycle to supplement her income before she was attacked by a man in a hooded jacket about midnight Friday, Lt. Ray Steiber from Metro’s homicide section said. Her body was left in the alley for six hours before being found.
Steiber spoke to reporters at the shopping center Tuesday to drum up community support.
“This is a crime that should not be tolerated in our community,” Steiber said. “She wasn’t doing anything wrong. She was minding her business.”
Steiber said detectives don’t think Shines knew the man, and what prompted the assault is unclear.
“Somebody knows this person,” he said. “We need the public to be mad.”
Shines is survived by her son, Ryan Young, who is still grieving the loss of his brother last year. Young said there is no way anyone who knew his mother would want to hurt her. She was generous and always thinking of others.
“Everybody knew her around the neighborhood. Her door was always open,” he said.
His mother lived just a few streets over from where her body was found.
Young and Shines’ tight-knit circle of friends and family are mad. They’ve been handing out fliers and going door-to-door through the neighborhood around the shopping center to look for answers.
Cathy Gutierrez, 55, of Las Vegas, has a question for the killer: why?
“What did you gain? What did you get, a quarter?” she said.
Gutierrez lives four houses away from Shines. Gutierrez called her best friend remarkable and vibrant, with a smile that would “brighten up the worst day you ever had.”
“Keep this alive. Keep Kathy in your heart,” she said. “Help us find this man.”
The man police are searching for a man described as in his late 20s, standing about 6 feet tall and weighing between 180 and 210 pounds. Security footage released by Metro shows him wearing a black beanie, black hooded jacket, red shirt, black pants, and dark gloves. Police were unsure if the man frequents the neighborhood.
Shine’s death was the second homicide in Metro’s jurisdiction in 2015.
Anyone with any information about this homicide can contact Metro’s homicide detectives at 702-828-3521 or homicide@lvmpd.com. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555 or www.crimestoppersofnv.com. Tips leading directly to an arrest or indictment processed through Crime Stoppers may result in a cash reward.
Contact reporter Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0391. Find him on Twitter: @WesJuhl. Contact Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Find him on Twitter: @coltonlochhead.
