Former boyfriend of missing dancer arrested on murder charges

Dancer Deborah Flores-Narvaez's body, dismembered and packed into at least two cement-filled tubs, was left by her killer in a downtown Las Vegas home.

Flores-Narvaez' 32-year-old former boyfriend was arrested on murder charges early Saturday morning, nearly a month after she disappeared on Dec. 12. Jason "Blu" Griffith, a dancer who performs in the Cirque du Soleil show "Love" featured at The Mirage, is being held without bail, jail records show.

Detectives discovered that Griffith had purchased cement and had rented a U-Haul not long after she visited him at his North Las Vegas home on the night of Dec. 12. Financial records -- U-Haul requires a credit card -- confirmed the rental.

The U-Haul's global positioning tracking device allowed detectives to reconstruct Griffith's movements, leading them to the downtown house where they found Flores-Narvaez's remains encased in cement.

Lt. Lew Roberts, head of the Las Vegas police homicide unit, declined comment on specific details of the case at a Saturday news conference, "in the interest of providing a good prosecution." He said it was a "complicated case" and would only confirm that the body was found downtown.

Roberts said detectives received a tip Friday that led them to take Griffith into custody on the Strip. He said he doesn't know the motive for the slaying.

The Clark County coroner's office will make a positive identification and release the cause of death. An autopsy is expected on Monday.

The investigation is continuing, and Roberts said there could be more arrests. He did not elaborate.

According to court records, Griffith is scheduled to appear Wednesday in Las Vegas Justice Court on the murder charge.

It has been nearly a month since the 31-year-old dancer was reported missing, a day after she failed to show up for a Dec. 13 performance in the Luxor show "Fantasy." Three days later, police found her Chevrolet Prizm abandoned in the northeast area of the valley, its license plates removed. The disappearance of the woman has made national headlines in part because her family has made high-profile appeals for help in finding her.

Detectives focused on Griffith, a professional dancer himself, because she accused him of beating her in October. Flores-Narvaez also told police she was pregnant with Griffith's child at that time.

Griffith has 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, police said.

Investigators have previously searched Griffith's North Las Vegas home and his car, and his attorney, Patrick McDonald, has said Griffith had cooperated with police, including volunteering for an interview with detectives.

A preliminary hearing in the domestic violence case is scheduled for April.

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: Jet at The Mirage and Haze at Aria, among others.

Flores-Narvaez' sister, Celeste Flores-Narvaez of Atlanta, who has been in Las Vegas in hopes of finding the dancer, did not return a message left Saturday.

Before her relationship with Griffith, court records indicate she was in at least one other troubled relationship with another professional dancer, Jamile McGee.

In April, Flores-Narvaez won a $250,000 civil judgment against McGee, whom she accused of beating her, according to court records. Court records do not indicate that she had received any money from the judgment.

McGee, who left Las Vegas more than a year ago, was never prosecuted by law enforcement, according to court records.

McGee's attorney has said there were never any medical or police reports to support Flores-Narvaez's allegations, and that she won the case only because his client ran out of money and could not continue fighting it.

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