North Las Vegas pond drained for homicide investigation
D’Ann Blatt walks her dog almost daily at Aliante Nature Discovery Park in North Las Vegas, but this week she noticed something unusual: police tape in the area of the pond.
Then, on Friday morning, she returned and found the pond nearly empty.
“Yikes! My water is gone,” Blatt said. “So I knew they had to be related. It was too close together for it not to be.”
Blatt was correct. North Las Vegas police said the pond was partially drained in cooperation with the city’s Parks and Recreation Division so that police could look for evidence in a homicide investigation.
Police have not disclosed what their detectives and a Las Vegas police dive team found at the bottom or what homicide led them to the water feature. But on Friday afternoon, the city was making sure the drop in water levels didn’t last long.
Firefighters brought in large hoses, then connected them to a fire hydrant to get water spewing into the pond.
“Evidence was located and the pond was refilled,” North Las Vegas police spokesman Alexander Cuevas said in an email.
“The local wildlife at the park are enjoying a fresh and clean area. Police activity has ceased in the area.”
Park enthusiast Herman Alapati lives nearby. He often brings his children to the park. He said a couple of days ago he saw police in scuba gear and what looked like metal detectors and then saw them draining the water.
“My first thought was what about the fish,” Alapati said. “There’s some big fish in there. But I guess they seem pretty safe.”
Blatt had similar concerns about the wildlife at the park.
She said the park is home to a lot of birds.
On Friday afternoon, as the pond was being refilled, a large flock of geese flew in and landed in it despite the lower-than-normal level.
The city, meanwhile, said water levels were never so low that it would have harmed the wildlife.
Blatt said she was thankful the city refilled the pond as quickly as possible.
“We have this and we need it for our children to be able to experience this,” Blatt said. “Las Vegas kids don’t get to see enough of this. I am so impressed with the city of North Las Vegas and how quickly they did this.”
Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.
