Police wonder if there are more victims

Law enforcement officials in Las Vegas and Nye County expressed concern Tuesday that a man arrested earlier this week in connection with the 1994 sexual assault and homicide of a 7-year-old girl might have had other victims.

However, neither Las Vegas police nor the Nye County Sheriff's Office has found any evidence additional children were harmed by 36-year-old Greg Wallen.

Wallen is scheduled for his first court appearance this morning in the slaying of Diana Hernandez. She was reported missing April 2, 1994, and was found the next day in a trash bin at the valley apartment complex where she lived near Flamingo Road and Maryland Parkway.

Las Vegas police arrested Wallen without incident Monday afternoon in Pahrump. He remains at the Clark County Detention Center without bail on one count of murder and one count of sexual assault of a minor under the age of 14.

He declined a request for an interview Tuesday.

Wallen served several years in a Nevada prison for a lewdness with a minor conviction stemming from a 1992 incident involving a 4-year-old girl in Nye County.

"This is twice now for him," homicide Lt. Lew Roberts said. "Who's to say there is not more?"

Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo expressed a similar sentiment.

"Any community would be concerned with something like this," DeMeo said. "Especially considering the violence that took place and the age of the victim," DeMeo said, referring to the Hernandez case.

An autopsy report revealed that Hernandez was also suffocated and beaten over the head.

According to a police report, Las Vegas police linked Wallen to the slaying through DNA samples retrieved from Diana's body and a partial fingerprint found on the cardboard box where her body was found.

DeMeo said according to his department's arrest records, Wallen has had several scrapes with the law since 2003.

Some of those incidents include a domestic violence charge, obtaining money under false pretenses, and failing to register twice as a sex offender in 2006.

The police report said Wallen has been required to register as a sex offender since 1999.

Anyone with information in Clark County is asked to contact the Las Vegas homicide Section at 828-3521 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555. Anyone in Nye County with information can call the sheriff's detective unit at 775-751-7000.

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.