Report: Video links suspect to victim in Silverado Ranch Park death
A homeless man accused of carrying out a slaying at Silverado Ranch Park was observed on video surveillance walking with the victim shortly before the killing, Las Vegas police said.
Police said Theoplis N. Harvey, 30, is charged with murder in the March 25 slaying of Michael Yeshitela, 23, of Las Vegas. Yeshitela’s body was found at the park in the early morning hours of March 26 by two men walking their dogs in the park.
An autopsy indicated Yeshitela was strangled.
Police interviewed a number of witnesses in the case, including two people who were in the park on the night of the killing.
Both witnesses observed two men fighting in the park, with the smaller man saying, “I wish someone would help me.” One of the witnesses said they saw a man choking another and the man who was on top of the victim uttering, “Say you’re sorry.”
When the witnesses walked by again, the two men who had been fighting were both standing upright, so the witnesses decided not to call police.
“(One of the witnesses) eventually concluded the males were playing around and knew each other and did not intervene,” police wrote in Harvey’s arrest report.
Police examined records from Yeshitela’s debit card, which led them to surveillance video from a variety of stores in the area near the park.
At a nearby pharmacy “the video surveillance depicted Yeshitela and an unidentified black male, who was later identified as Theoplis Harvey Jr.,” buying a bottle of gin there. More video surveillance from a grocery store showed the men getting two Bud Ice beers together.
Police said surveillance from a gas station showed Harvey leaving the area of the park alone at 1:53 a.m. Video surveillance from the gas station showed Harvey in the store with “apparent dirt and or dust on Harvey’s left sleeve, and there was a large tear to his left shoe, next to three drops of apparent blood.”
Las Vegas police stopped Harvey for jaywalking on April 3 in the area of Las Vegas Boulevard South and Tropicana Avenue. Harvey would not speak to detectives.
“Harvey’s overall condition was documented with photographs and he had apparent injuries to his hands, which were consistent with a recent fight,” police said.
Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0390. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.
