Las Vegas police ID suspect in woman’s killing as correctional officer
A state correctional officer has been identified as the man suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend early Saturday, leaving their two young children to find her body in his southeast valley home, the Las Vegas Review-Journal has learned.
Metropolitan Police Department homicide Lt. Ray Spencer confirmed Sunday that police are looking for 41-year-old Christopher Gerard Caggiano. He remained at large more than 24 hours after the woman’s body was found and was believed to be driving a 2017 white Nissan Rogue with Nevada license plate 69B230.
State government employment records list Caggiano as a Nevada corrections officer since at least 2014. He was most recently assigned to High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs, roughly 40 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Brooke Santina said.
As of Sunday, police had not found or spoken with Caggiano, Spencer said.
“We were following up on leads and have him identified,” the homicide lieutenant said Sunday morning. “I was just told those leads have been exhausted.”
It was just before 9 a.m. Saturday when the 911 call came in, police said. On the other end of the line were his two children, both under 10.
Police said a 9-year-old girl told a police dispatcher that their mom, thought to be in her early 30s, was dead in a bedroom at their father’s townhouse in the 4600 block of Dealers Choice Way. She was lying in a pool of blood with at least one gunshot wound, police said.
By noon, homicide detectives had identified Caggiano as the suspect but did not immediately release his name or his description. He fled before officers arrived, Spencer said.
The property owner told the Review-Journal on Sunday that Caggiano had moved into the townhouse in March 2017. Police said his children and ex-girlfriend had been temporarily staying in the house, which is in a gated neighborhood near Boulder Highway.
Homicide detectives determined that Caggiano and the children’s mother were arguing the night before she was found dead. Spencer said there is no recorded history of domestic disputes at the family’s Dealers Choice Way address.
Child Protective Services located immediate family to take the children, Spencer confirmed.
The Clark County coroner’s office will release the woman’s identity once her family has been notified. Her death was the 29th domestic-related homicide investigated by Metro this year, according to records maintained by the Review-Journal. As of Saturday, Metro had investigated 93 homicides in 2018.
Anyone with information regarding Caggiano’s whereabouts is asked to call Metro’s homicide section at 702-828-3521 or Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.