Dancer: Slaying was not planned

Jason "Blu" Griffith told a Las Vegas homicide detective that the slaying of "Fantasy" dancer Deborah Flores-Narvaez was "a heat of the moment thing that happened."

A Metropolitan Police Department report released Monday confirmed gruesome details of how police found the 31-year-old's dismembered body Saturday in two tubs filled with concrete in a downtown Las Vegas home.

Flores-Narvaez had been missing almost a month when Griffith, her ex-boyfriend and a dancer for the Cirque du Soleil show "Love" at The Mirage, was arrested Saturday on one count of murder. The 32-year-old is being held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center.

The police report said that Flores-Narvaez had gone to Griffith's North Las Vegas home on Dec. 12 to watch "Dexter," a television show about a serial killer.

The former couple began to fight, and Griffith's roommate, Louis Colombo, saw Griffith choking the 31-year-old and pulled him off of her. The pair had at least three known prior domestic violence incidents, according to police.

Colombo told police that when he left the home Dec. 12, Flores-Narvaez was OK, but when he returned home later that night, she was dead.

Over the next few days Colombo helped Griffith hide the body, according to the report.

The two men rented a U-Haul truck on Dec. 14. About 11 p.m. the next day, Griffith and Colombo used the truck to transport the tub to a female friend's Henderson apartment where he hoped to store it, according to the report.

The woman asked Griffith what was in the tub. He told her "Debbie was in the tub," the report stated.

The woman told Griffith and Colombo to leave.

She didn't speak with police about the case until Friday. She told detectives she was hesitant to come forward because she was afraid of Colombo.

Police then confronted Colombo. Colombo told police Friday he would cooperate with the investigation as long as he was not charged in connection with the dancer's death, according to the report.

Colombo has not yet been charged in the case, according to jail and court records. However, police are only allowed to make charging recommendations to prosecutors -- they can't cut deals with suspects.

Colombo told police that when he came home Dec. 12, Griffith told him it was a "change your diaper moment." Griffith told Colombo he had messed up and Colombo found Flores-Narvaez's cold body.

He told police that after he was sick to his stomach, he helped Griffith put the dancer in a plastic tub.

Griffith bought bags of concrete from a nearby Home Depot, he told police. The two filled the tub with concrete and let it set overnight in the garage.

After the unsuccessful attempt to leave the tub at the Henderson apartment, Griffith got the keys to a downtown Las Vegas home of friends who were out of the country.

Griffith figured the body could be stored there for some time without being found. But when Colombo was moving the tub in the house, located in the 300 block of Bonanza Way, near Bonanza Road and Las Vegas Boulevard, the tub started leaking.

Days later, Griffith and Colombo returned to the one-story home with a sledge hammer, a handsaw, two new plastic tubs and some cleaning supplies.

Colombo told detectives they broke the body out of the concrete and Griffith then sawed off Flores-Narvaez's legs. The body and legs were put in plastic bags. The bags were then placed in two separate tubs and covered with concrete. The tubs were then sealed in a closet.

After confessing his role to detectives, Colombo took detectives to the home. A search warrant was signed at 12:05 a.m. Saturday and the two green plastic tubs with Flores-Narvaez's remains were found in the home.

Griffith was taken in for questioning by detectives on Friday night after he finished performing in "Love."

Griffith admitted renting a U-Haul truck, but said it was to pick up a punching bag in the northwest valley, the report stated. When he was confronted about going to Henderson, Griffith said he went there to pick up workout equipment.

When police asked about Flores-Narvaez's slaying and the disposal of her body, Griffith asked for his attorney.

Griffith was then arrested and charged with murder early Saturday morning.

As he was being driven to the county jail for booking, Griffith told a homicide detective Flores-Narvaez had attacked him and he believed she had a gun, according to the report. Griffith told the detective that "what happened was not a premeditated thing" and that all the "amateurish stuff" occurred later.

A judge will ultimately have to decide whether what Griffith told the detective can be used against him in court because he had earlier asked to speak to his attorney.

As of late Monday, the Clark County coroner's office had not released the cause of death or a positive identification of the body.

It has been nearly a month since Flores-Narvaez was reported missing, a day after she failed to show up for a Dec. 13 performance in the Luxor show "Fantasy." Her disappearance has made national headlines, in part because her family has made high-profile appeals for help in finding her.

Detectives focused on Griffith as a suspect because the dancer had accused him of beating her in October. Flores-Narvaez also told police she was pregnant with Griffith's child at that time. Authorities have not disclosed whether she was pregnant at the time of her death.

Griffith had told detectives that Flores-Narvaez visited him at his home on the night she went missing, but the conversation was brief and she seemed OK before leaving.

Investigators previously had searched Griffith's North Las Vegas home and his car, and he had volunteered for an interview with detectives.

Flores-Narvaez's sister, Celeste Flores-Narvaez of Atlanta, who came to Las Vegas in hopes of finding the dancer, did not return several messages left Monday.

Deborah Flores-Narvaez grew up in Puerto Rico before moving to Maryland, where she studied international business and law. She served as an ambassador for the Washington Redskins in 2007, a non-performing position that sent her into the community.

She moved to Las Vegas to pursue dreams of dancing, and soon was hired at some of the Strip's poshest nightclubs, including Jet at The Mirage and Haze at Aria.

Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.