Technology, persistence lead to murder arrest

Annie Bunnell never gave up.

After her 69-year-old husband was found stabbed to death at a Las Vegas bar in 1997, she began calling police to ask if there were any new leads or evidence.

She kept making calls, encouraging police to work hard to bring the killer to justice.

On Tuesday she saw her persistence pay off.

That's when Las Vegas police arrested 48-year-old Craig Lombardo at his North Las Vegas apartment in connection with the 11-year-old slaying of Duke Bunnell.

The arrest was aided by forensic technology unavailable during the time of the crime, and a crucial piece of evidence that was overlooked in the initial investigation.

"Maybe now he can rest in peace," the 78-year-old Bunnell said. "People always say you have closure, but I will never have closure. He was so dear to me and then this idiot came along and killed him. ... I have more choice words for him, but I'm trying to be a lady."

Lombardo was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of murder with a deadly weapon and robbery with a deadly weapon.

Co-workers found Bunnell's body at what was then Rob Roy's bar, 2797 S. Maryland Parkway, near Sahara Avenue, on the morning of July 10, 1997. Bunnell worked at the bar as a bookkeeper.

Investigators said Bunnell lost a dramatic struggle to survive. The original police report likened the crime scene to a "slaughterhouse."

"Blood was pooled all over the floor," the report said. "Blood spatter was on all four walls up to five feet off the floor."

Bunnell, a Pennsylvania native, lived in the valley for about six years and didn't need the job, his colleagues and his wife said. Annie Bunnell said her husband also worked as a real estate agent before his death.

Police suspected robbery was the motive. They found an open cash register and file cabinet used to safeguard money. There were no signs of pry marks on the register or cabinet. If money was missing, it was a minimal amount. Police said 121 one-dollar tokens used for the video poker machines were taken. There were no signs of a break-in at the bar, and a rear door to the building was unlocked.

Police believed the slaying took place between 6:30 a.m. and 8 a.m., Bunnell's typical work hours. Co-workers found Bunnell's body about 9:30 a.m.

From nearly the get-go, investigators had their sights set on Rob Roy's kitchen worker Lombardo, then 37 years old, police Detective David Culver said. Culver said Lombardo was interviewed the afternoon of the homicide.

He became a "person of interest" because he never showed up to his shift at 10 the morning of the slaying. When police spoke with him, he couldn't account for his whereabouts that morning. He also had visible injuries on his hands and arms, Culver said.

Police gave Lombardo a Hemastix test, which determined that he had primate blood -- humans are primates -- under his fingernails. Culver said the Hemastix at the time was considered a sophisticated test used by police in homicides. But it wasn't sophisticated enough in 1997 to determine whether the blood positively matched Bunnell's blood.

"They decided not to arrest him (Lombardo) at the time," Culver said. "I don't know if they felt it wasn't enough to get a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt."

Culver reopened the case on Oct. 22, 2007, after a volunteer in the cold case section came forward on behalf of Bunnell's wife and asked Culver if there was anything that could be done to solve the crime. Annie Bunnell had been calling police every other month since the homicide occurred asking about any developments in the investigation.

"She deserves all the credit for having the case reopened," Culver said.

He said police got a break in January when they noticed a previously overlooked fingerprint collected from the crime scene was somehow mixed in with samples of footprint evidence.

They were able to identify the print as belonging to Lombardo's left ring finger, which was located next to droplets of Bunnell's blood.

In the spring, police were able to determine that Lombardo's blood was mixed with Bunnell's blood in a sink inside the bar. He said the blood from the sink wasn't tested back in 1997, but it most likely wouldn't have determined that the blood belonged to two people because technology was not as advanced as it is today.

"Today, we could get two DNA profiles using much smaller samples of blood," he said. "This case was solved through time and technology from then until now."

Homicide Lt. Lew Roberts said his agency has investigated 12 to 30 cold cases a year for the past two years, solving a handful each year. It has more than 1,100 unsolved homicide files dating back to 1943.

Roberts said he and Culver drove to Apple Valley, Calif., last month to visit with Bunnell's widow. They told her they expected to make an arrest soon. He said police typically try to meet families of cold case victims they are investigating in order to become more than just a voice behind a desk phone.

"More often than not, I call and talk to the families and let them know what we're doing," he said. "Sometimes, I have to be honest with them and tell them we've done everything we could and hadn't found anything."

Roberts said that when he and Culver spoke with Bunnell's widow, she was so moved, she cried.

"She felt good we were actually looking at the case and it hadn't gone by the wayside," he said.

Annie Bunnell applauded police officers' efforts Tuesday.

She left Las Vegas only three weeks after her husband's slaying, relocating to California where she had family and friends.

She said she hasn't thought about re-marrying after her husband's death, and not a day goes by when she doesn't think of him.

"He was always there for me," she said about the man she had been married to for 36 years. "Every day we'd sit down and talk. Now I don't have that anymore ... I miss him."

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