Teen’s call brings police to murder-suicide in northwest Las Vegas

In the early hours of Monday morning, Carlos Janeway’s phone rang in Oklahoma. His 15-year-old daughter in Las Vegas was on the line. In shock.

“She was just mumbling, ‘Gun, mom, shot,’” Janeway said. “She just couldn’t get it out.”

His daughter, Selena, passed the phone to a detective, who told him the news: Her stepfather had shot her mother and then himself.

“Today, she’s doing fine; but she is traumatized,” Janeway said. “I told her Daddy cares for her, and I’m here.”

The killing happened around 8:30 p.m. Sunday, when a neighbor reported hearing gunshots at the Chateau Versailles Condominiums, at 10550 W. Alexander Road, near Cliff Shadows Parkway, Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Dan McGrath said. The teenage girl called the police shortly after, he added.

Her stepfather shot his wife multiple times before shooting himself in the head, McGrath said.

The Clark County coroner’s office identified the woman as Noel Acosta, 46, of Las Vegas. She died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head; her manner of death was ruled a homicide. Janeway confirmed the name of the suspected killer as Thomas Acosta, 44, on Monday.

He said his ex-wife was a kindhearted woman who cared for people; she was also a mother of two and a grandmother. He said he and his ex-wife had dated for about four years and were married for two before divorcing in 2003 or 2004.

“We didn’t get along, but I would never do that,” he said of the killing. He said he had met Acosta a few times, and “He seemed to be an all right guy.”

Officers arriving at the scene Sunday helped his daughter get out of the condo through a window before they entered and found the bodies, McGrath said.

“She was very distressed, but she’s with police now,” McGrath said Sunday. “She heard the altercation, and she might have looked in and seen something, but she’s safe.”

The couple had one prior domestic violence report, from Feb. 11, Metro spokesman Jay Rivera said. In that incident, the woman had gone to the hospital after a car crash, and the hospital reported bruises that the woman said were from an incident about a month earlier.

The Acostas were divorcing, Rivera said.

Janeway said he had talked to Noel earlier this month, and she had mentioned something about “bad karma” referring to her relationship with Thomas Acosta, but did not elaborate.

“I don’t think she would have ever expected this to have happened to her,” Janeway said. He said Thomas Acosta also has two children himself — a boy and a girl.

“What would drive a person to do this, knowing that they have their own children?” He asked. “It’s somewhat selfish to take the mother away from my daughter. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Noel also has a 23-year-old son, with whom Selena will live, Janeway said. She was supposed to start school today. A Clark County School District spokesman said a girl with the same name would have started 10th grade Monday at Centennial High School, but couldn’t confirm it was the same Selena Janeway.

The Chateau Versailles Condominium complex was quiet Monday morning. No one was walking around. Some neighbors around a unit with a boarded-up front door were not home. One neighbor who answered her door declined to comment. Management for Chateau Versailles also declined.

Janeway is praying and said he was concerned his teenager had witnessed the shooting. But her half brother told him Monday that she had heard only the shots and stayed in her room.

“I thank God that didn’t happen,” he said. “There were other ways to handle it besides violence, and my poor daughter was there.”

Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Follow @brianarerick on Twitter. Contact Max Michor at mmichor@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @MaxMichor on Twitter. Review-Journal writers Isabelle Delgado and Bianca Cseke contributed to this report.