Slaying suspect says he was ‘used’ by victims’ son

Victor Veliz

The look in his eyes told Victor Veliz that Timothy Chester wasn’t joking when he told the 18-year-old friend to shoot Chester’s parents Wednesday. His words confirmed it.

“(He said) 'Don’t wuss out on me or I’ll shoot you instead,’ ” Veliz said in a jailhouse interview today.

With his head sunken and long hair covering his face, Veliz was emotionless as he spoke of the turn of events that led him to kill Thomas and Carla Chester in their east valley home Wednesday afternoon.

“I was used,” he said, before pausing. “By him.”

Timothy Chester

Veliz said he was “nervous and numb” about noon Wednesday when he shot and killed 57-year-old Thomas Chester. Next he shot and stabbed Carla Chester, 51. He then washed his hands in the kitchen sink and walked home, according to a Metropolitan Police Department report.

He was arrested at his home Wednesday night.

Dressed in blue inmate garb at the Clark County Detention Center, Veliz spoke quietly and quickly. When asked if he felt remorse for his actions, Veliz answered, “a little” and that he still feels “numb.”

Veliz also said a fight between the Chesters on Tuesday night compounded by allegations that Thomas Chester was an abusive alcoholic could have set Timothy Chester over the edge.

Chester declined the Review-Journal’s requests for a jailhouse interview today.

Veliz and Chester, also 18, were charged with two counts each of murder with a deadly weapon, and conspiracy to commit murder. They also face one count each of burglary. Chester was charged with an additional count of robbery with a deadly weapon.

Timothy Chester told Veliz that the family fought, but about small things, Veliz said.

Chester wanted Veliz to kill his parents, but planned to kill his sister and brother-in-law himself, Veliz said. Veliz knew Chester, his best friend of three years, had access to a gun. He feared his family was in danger, too, if he didn’t heed Chester’s request.

“He just hated everybody,” he said of Chester. “He always joked about (killing the family) but I never thought he was serious.”

In Chester’s accounts given in a police report, he tells a different story about plotting the slayings.

He and Veliz planned to kill Chester’s family execution style and escape to Guatemala, the report states. Veliz’s father owns property in Guatemala, according to Family Court filings. The men also discussed killing Veliz’s parents the following week.

Chester lived with his parents, sister, brother-in-law and their small children in a home at Heritage Village Mobile Home Park, 1515 S. Mojave Road, near Charleston Boulevard.

Chester told police that threats from his brother-in-law and hatred of his parents led him to hatch a plan to kill his family, according to the report.

The family had a “heated argument” late Tuesday and Chester told police he feared his brother-in-law, who was in Arizona at the time, was coming to the house and might be armed. Chester then took a small caliber semiautomatic handgun and two magazines out of his father’s safe and hid them, the report states.

It is unclear what the argument between the family entailed, how his brother-in-law threatened Chester or whether Chester planned to use the firearm for protection.

The brother-in-law, identified by the police report as Justin Hewitt, could not be reached for comment today.

According to the report, Chester gave Veliz the gun Wednesday but left sometime while his friend killed his parents. Chester fled in the couple’s Dodge Journey but was arrested Thursday morning on the Arizona side of the Hoover Dam. He admitted to Las Vegas police conspiring to murder his parents but said Veliz pulled the trigger. Chester made no mention of threatening Veliz into committing the acts in the police report.

Veliz said he knew Chester had attention deficit disorder but his friend had never before been aggressive or threatening. The threats against Veliz started the day of the slayings, Veliz said.

In Veliz’s initial statements to police, he did not mention threats from Chester. Veliz didn’t know if Chester had diagnosed mental issues. He said the men were not under the influence of drugs or alcohol Wednesday.

Veliz said he and Chester both attended but never graduated from Chaparral High School and neither held jobs. Both men are being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail. Veliz is scheduled to his first court appearance Monday.

Reporter Lawrence Mower contributed to this report. Contact reporter Maggie Lillis at mlillis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.