Hearing sheds little light

There are two very different stories surrounding the death of William Cybulski.

The men accused of killing the 35-year-old mortgage broker told police that Cybulski had paid them to kill him because he was suffering from a fatal illness.

Cybulski's relatives dispute this account, saying he was in perfect health and wasn't suicidal.

The only sure thing in this case is that at least one of the defendants will face murder charges in District Court.

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Karen Bennett-Haron on Wednesday ruled that Waymond Jeter, 35, will be bound over for trial on charges of murder with a deadly weapon.

Jeter's co-defendant, 29-year-old Jeremy Miello, wasn't at Wednesday's preliminary hearing because he was undergoing competency evaluations. Miello lived next door to Cybulski.

Cybulski's mother and sister, Lydia Seifert and Melissa Tresse, flew from California to attend the evidence hearing but weren't allowed to watch the proceedings. Bennett-Haron ordered them to leave the courtroom because they could be called as witnesses in the future.

"We came a long way," Seifert told Bennett-Haron.

She said she wanted to watch the hearing and called being ejected from the courtroom "unfair."

Little new information about the case was brought to light during the evidentiary hearing. A friend of Cybulski's fiancee testified that she found his lifeless body on Aug. 25 at his house in the 7800 block of March Brown Avenue, near Durango Drive and Ann Road.

A co-worker of Miello's said the defendants had inquired about buying from him a small handgun that didn't have too much muzzle flash and wasn't too loud when fired.

Las Vegas police Detective Clifford Mogg testified that Jeter first denied knowing Cybulski but later changed his story. Mogg said Jeter told police that the pair burned their clothes after the killing and threw the gun in an unidentified lake.

Mogg said nothing was stolen from Cybulski's house and he didn't believe the killing was theft-related.

But the big question was still unanswered: Why was Cybulski killed?

The defendants explained to police that they believed Cybulski was suffering from a terminal illness and was willing to pay $5,000 to end his life, an arrest report states. Police found research into cancers, assisted suicide and criminal poisoning on Cybulski's home computer. They also found a document titled "Will I go to hell if I kill myself," the report states.

Cybulski's relatives previously said this isn't conclusive. They said that Cybulski had a friend who was diagnosed with leukemia and that a friend's father had died of a brain tumor. They also said he was smart enough to be able to cover his tracks if he really wanted the crime to look like a homicide. He wouldn't have hired Miello or Jeter to carry out such an obvious crime, they said.

Relatives and friends described Cybulski as highly intelligent, with an IQ between 160 and 170. He earned a degree in microbiology from the University of Rochester and recently took advanced calculus classes at the College of Southern Nevada to keep his mind sharp.

After the hearing, Seifert maintained that her son wasn't involved in a suicide pact.

"I talked to him almost every day," Seifert said, explaining that he never gave indications that he was sick or suicidal.

Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-1039.