Las Vegas woman killed after fight over pain pills, report says

An ongoing argument over Lortab pills led a 62-year-old felon “to go insane” and stab his girlfriend to death last week before trying to kill himself, according to an arrest report.

Identified by Las Vegas police records as Julie Ray, the victim was found Friday evening wrapped in a blanket in the dining room of her central valley home at 1912 Cameron St. Detectives believe she had been dead for several days.

Her cause and manner of death were pending with the Clark County coroner’s office Tuesday. She was in her 60s, police said.

Found wrapped in another blanket in the master bedroom Friday night was a “pale and sickly” John R. Vannucci, police said. He said he had taken at least 80 pills, adding that “he wanted to die too, because he had hurt somebody,” according to his arrest report.

Court records show that as of Monday, Vannucci was being treated at University Medical Center. He was booked in absentia Saturday into the Clark County Detention Center on one count of murder with a deadly weapon.

In an interview with police, the report said, Vannucci admitted to stabbing his girlfriend at least six times in the neck and back with two knives — because the first was dull — after an argument over his Lortab pills. He said Ray had taken 120 pills from him and was upset because he did not immediately refill his prescription.

But Ray was still alive after the stabbing, he recalled during the interview, so “he punched Ray in the face, which knocked her down and she did not get back up,” his arrest report states.

At the end of the interview, Vannucci told detectives he regretted what happened.

“I’m sorry I had to go insane over pills,” he said, according to the report.

Metropolitan Police Department officers launched the investigation into the botched murder-suicide Friday evening after one of Ray’s friends requested a welfare check. She told police she was worried because “Ray had been in several domestic situations” with Vannucci “over pills in the past,” police documented in the report.

Ray does not appear to have a criminal history in Clark County, according to court records.

Vannucci pleaded guilty in July 2013 to one felony count of attempted battery resulting in substantial bodily harm, District Court records show.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.