Man stops L.A. deputy to confess to 2013 killing in Las Vegas
A man flagged down a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy last month and confessed to the 2013 killing of Ronald Gray near downtown Las Vegas, police said.
Gray was found May 11, 2013, on a sidewalk suffering from multiple stab wounds in front of the Salvation Army at 33 W. Owens Ave. He died a day later at age 62.
On Thursday, 32-year-old Eric Jesus Martinez was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on one count of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon.
According to a Las Vegas police document, when Martinez flagged down the deputy on Jan. 23, he gave up details of the stabbing that “would only be known to the suspect.” He also matched the description of the suspect that police put together at the time. They were looking for a cleanshaven Hispanic man in his 20s, the report detailed.
Based on those details, Metropolitan Police Department homicide detectives linked him to the unsolved homicide.
Martinez admitted to stabbing Gray more than a hundred times with a 4-inch knife “because the voices in his head told him to kill him,” his arrest report said. It remained unclear Friday morning why Martinez turned himself in more than four years later.
The folding knife, which was collected as evidence, was found three days after the stabbing near the 600 block of Las Vegas Boulevard North. Police said Gray’s blood was still on the tip of the blade.
Gray’s death was ruled a homicide by the Clark County coroner’s office. He died of multiple stab wounds and sharp force injuries.
Martinez is being held at the detention center without bail. He is due in court Monday morning.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.
