Killer got jewelry box, $25

When 56-year-old Carey Brafford came home from work Friday night, everything looked normal.

The television was on, the light was on, nothing was out of order.

Then he heard his three dogs barking behind the closed bedroom door.

Inside, Patricia Louise Brafford, his wife of 25 years, was facedown on the bed, gagged and bound with a bathrobe belt.

His heart sank.

"I turned her over, and her eyes were gray," Brafford said.

The Clark County coroner's office found that Patricia Brafford, 67, had suffocated.

Las Vegas police have no suspects in the seemingly random slaying that took place on Del Amo Drive, near East Charleston Boulevard and U.S. Highway 95.

No witnesses have come forward.

Police have ruled out Carey Brafford as a suspect.

Police speculate that whoever committed the crime was either let into the house or came in through the back sliding glass door.

Only $25 in cash and a jewelry box with a few items of value were taken from the house.

"This'll be another one of those cases where we either make it on forensic evidence or on an anonymous tip," Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Lew Roberts said. "At this point, we have no suspects, nobody to even look at."

Gray fingerprint dust still coated the walls of Brafford's one-story home Wednesday morning as the taxicab driver pleaded for someone to come forward in the case.

"What they did with her was nothing but meanness," Brafford said. "I just want closure on this."

On Friday, Brafford said he called his wife throughout the day after he went to work about 11 a.m. Both were diehard Chicago Cubs fans, and he wanted to ask her about the day's game.

But Patricia Brafford didn't return the calls.

Carey Brafford worried that she might have fallen and couldn't reach the phone. He said his wife was troubled by a bad back and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which made it difficult for her to breathe.

When Brafford saw her in their bedroom Friday night, he knew she probably wasn't alive.

It took some effort to pull the gag out of her mouth, he said.

He checked for a pulse. There was none.

When he called 911, the dispatcher told Brafford to leave the house immediately and meet police outside. He heard police sirens wailing when he walked out the door.

Carey Brafford thought the culprits might be "dopers looking for some money."

Roberts said the individual or people responsible could have been watching the home for some time and knew that Brafford wouldn't be able to defend herself.

The front and back doors to the house were closed when Carey Brafford returned home about 8:30 p.m.

He doesn't think his wife would have let a stranger in the house. And if someone broke in, Brafford doesn't understand why the dogs didn't alert his wife.

"She was just so full of life," a tearful Carey Brafford said.

Patricia Brafford moved from Ohio to Las Vegas in 1976. She worked at casinos and also at J.C. Penny Co. Inc., from where she retired five years ago.

The two met in 1982 and married a year later.

"I cooked her dinner on our first date, and we've never been apart since," Brafford said.

The age difference -- she was about 12 years older than he was -- was never an issue in their relationship. It didn't matter how old she was, because they were in love, Brafford said.

"She was the sweetest, kindest person you'd ever want to meet," he said.

Brafford said his wife loved cooking and their three dogs.

Patricia Brafford is survived by a sister in Ohio. Funeral arrangements have yet to be made.

For those who wish to make donations, a bank account to help pay for the funeral has been set up at Bank of America under the title, "Patricia Brafford Funeral Fund."

Brafford spent Monday night at a friend's house, where he watched the Cubs beat the San Diego Padres on television.

"I cried throughout the game," he said. "Whenever the Cubs would do something good, I would look to Pat and we'd give each other a high five. But she wasn't there."

Brafford said he has to start his life over again now that she's gone.

"She was my best friend, and I was hers."

Anyone with information on the incident can call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 385-5555.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.