Man charged in 2019 ‘execution-style’ double killing
Las Vegas police used Facebook posts, forensics, video surveillance and tips from the public to crack the case of two people shot execution-style in 2019, according to law enforcement documents.
Malik Jones, 25, was booked Sunday at the Clark County Detention Center on two counts of murder. He was initially booked under the alias Javon Harris, but he is now in the Southern Nevada jail under his real name, authorities said.
Jones is charged in the slayings of Damis Irizarry Jr., 20, and Kasi Switzer, 25. The two were found shot in the head at close range at a home on the 2200 block of Poplar Avenue, near Eastern Avenue and Bonanza Road, on June 29, 2019.
A Ford Focus and silver Audi belonging to Irizarry and Switzer were missing from the home, as were cellphones and video-surveillance equipment. Ammunition from a 9 mm cartridge case was found at the scene with the head stamp “CBC 9mm Luger” on it, Las Vegas police wrote in an arrest report for Jones.
Video surveillance from the neighborhood placed Jones at the residence the day before the bodies were found, according to the report.
Detectives learned Jones “knew Damis Irizarry Jr. and Kasi Switzer and had been in and out of the residence lately,” detectives wrote in the report.
Indoor video surveillance
Police also wrote that Irizarry and Switzer had an interior video surveillance system. The surveillance video showed Jones inside the home, at one point answering the door with a firearm in his hand, police wrote. Police also said the video surveillance showed Jones and another man walking to the “back bedroom.”
“The time frame is close to when detectives believe Switzer and Irizarry were murdered,” police wrote.
On July 6, police found the missing Ford Focus abandoned in San Bernardino, California. Ammunition found in the vehicle had the same stamp on it as the ammunition found at the crime scene.
Police then received an anonymous tip indicating Jones had shot both victims and taken a 9 mm belonging to Switzer from the residence. The anonymous person said Jones he’d removed surveillance equipment from inside the residence, along with “a silver Audi, belonging to Switzer, and a blue Ford Focus, belonging to Irizarry.”
“Anonymous person told (detectives) Malik Jones had threatened a group of people after the murders of Damis Irizarry and Kasi Switzer, that he would kill them if any of them went to the police,” detectives wrote in the report.
Messenger conversations
The tipster said there were Facebook Messenger conversations between Jones and his girlfriend discussing the slayings. Police wrote in the arrest report that they identified Jones’ girlfriend as a woman named Cherie Freeman. Police examined the couple’s Facebook accounts, tracking Freeman as she traveled through Utah to Missouri, allegedly to meet Jones. Police wrote in the arrest report they believed Freeman was present during the homicides and that search warrants have been sent to Facebook to obtain Messenger conversations between the two, but so far detectives “have not received the information.”
“Based upon social media posts and their knowledge of the investigation, detectives believe Freeman is aiding Jones after the murders, and may have helped him dispose of physical evidence,” police wrote. “(Detectives) know Freeman was planning to meet Jones in Missouri, at an arranged location.”
Las Vegas Justice Court and District Court records indicate Freeman was arrested and faced two felony cases filed in January. The charge listed in one of those cases was accessory to murder, and the other case accused her of transportation of a controlled substance. District Court records show the accessory to murder charge was dismissed as part of a deal in which she was found guilty of transporting a controlled substance.
The circumstances of Jones’ arrest were not clear as of Thursday morning, but an arrest warrant for Jones was issued in July 2019 and he had an initial appearance in Justice Court on Tuesday. A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for April 21.
Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0390. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.
