Las Vegas police arrest man in 2012 homicide case

Robert Brown was booked in the death of 29-year-old Nichole Nick. Nick was found shot to death inside her apartment at the Canyon Pointe Apartments, 5421 E. Harmon Ave., near Boulder Highway, about 10:15 p.m. on Dec. 7, 2012.

When the responding officer arrived at the apartment, Nick’s mother, Esther Maestas, was lying on the floor bleeding from multiple gunshots. Maestas told the officer, “Robert did it, Robert did it,” Brown’s declaration of arrest said.

In the bedroom, officers found Nick unresponsive and bleeding from gunshot wounds. She died at the scene.

An autopsy showed Nick had been shot in the chest and stabbed multiple times.

Nick and Brown had been dating about six months, according to her mother. Nick ended the relationship earlier that evening after an argument over money hours before she was shot, according to the report.

“She said that she was going to leave him because he wasn’t treating her right,” Maestas said.

Maestas, who was visiting her daughter that same night, said Brown broke into the apartment through the window carrying a gun shortly after Nick and her niece went to sleep after watching a children’s movie together, according to police reports.

Brown chased Nick into the bedroom, Maestas told police, and she said she heard several gunshots. When she entered the bedroom, she said, she saw Brown pointing the gun at Nick’s niece. Maestas said she pleaded for him not to shoot.

Brown turned and shot Maestas before shooting Nick again as she crawled on the floor, the report said.

A bullet hole was found in the niece’s bed, but the girl was unharmed, according to the report. One bullet that was fired went through the wall and hit the side rail of a toddler bed in a neighboring apartment, the report said.

Neighbors told police they heard arguing in the hours before the shooting.

Police identified Brown as a person of interest the day after the killing.

“It’s been really rough,” Maestas said. “During the whole 13, 14 months while he was on the run, I was scared to death.”

According to Maestas, Nick had gotten custody of her two children, who were in Arizona, and planned on bringing them to Las Vegas the week after she was killed.

“She was loved by so many. So many people love her and miss her and still talk about her to this day,” Nick’s mother said.

Police did not provide details of Brown’s arrest.

He faces several charges including murder, attempted murder, burglary and home invasion with a deadly weapon.

Staff writer Annalise Porter contributed to this report. Contact reporter Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.