New Year’s Day death at Strip resort reported

A 25-year-old California man who was one of the hundreds of thousands of New Year's Eve revelers on the Strip was killed after an apparent fall from a rooftop at Planet Hollywood Resort, Las Vegas police confirmed Tuesday.

Adrian Carlin of Pomona is believed to have plunged to his death early Jan. 1. His body wasn't found until Jan. 3, investigators said.

Steve Caruso, an attorney for Carlin's family, is still collecting facts in the fatality. He said Carlin fell from a rooftop pool area and hit another elevated platform at the Strip resort.

Las Vegas police spokeswoman Barbara Morgan said homicide investigators determined Carlin's death was an accident and he was intoxicated. Morgan said Carlin fell five or six stories from the rooftop to a second rooftop.

The Clark County coroner's office had not determined Carlin's cause and manner of death by Tuesday afternoon.

Carlin had been reported missing Jan. 1, police said. Morgan said Carlin's body was discovered in a secluded construction area that was not accessible to the public.

Caruso said he believes an employee discovered the body Jan. 3 while looking outside at inclement weather.

Caruso called Carlin's death "preventable." Carlin was the father of a 2-year-old daughter.

"Planet Hollywood failed to secure the doors, and failed to secure the roof area," Caruso said. "They left the property in a state where someone might have walked off a building. That should not happen in this town."

Jacqueline Peterson, a spokeswoman for Caesars Entertainment, which owns Planet Hollywood, referred all questions to Las Vegas police on Tuesday.

Caruso, who has not yet viewed video surveillance of Carlin's last moments alive, said family members have seen the footage. Caruso said according to what he's been told, the video shows people going in and out of a pool area, possibly to check on fireworks. Those people leave the door to the pool area open. Video then shows Carlin walking into the pool area.

Caruso said Carlin called a friend he had been separated from at 12:28 a.m. Carlin told his friend he was intoxicated in a pool area and wasn't sure how to get out. He asked for help.

Caruso said Carlin's friend tracked down a maintenance employee and asked him to open the locked door to the pool area. The maintenance employee called security. Caruso said it took 40 minutes for security to get to Carlin's friend. Security then checked the pool area but did not find Carlin, Caruso said.

During the "critical hour" between 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 a.m., Caruso said, Carlin might have fallen off the roof.

Frances Carlin, Adrian's aunt, said Tuesday that her nephew, a quality-control manager for a health company, had saved the entire year so he could party on the Strip on New Year's Eve.

Frances Carlin said her nephew made the trip with his cousin and his best friend. They stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel but were celebrating at Planet Hollywood shortly before midnight.

She said her nephew was a great father and a caring man.

"He had the biggest heart," Frances Carlin said. "He smiled all the time."

Caruso said there are many things he needs to learn about the case, including Carlin's official cause and manner of death; why it took authorities so long to locate the body and the details of the fall, including where he landed.

However, based on what he's learned so far, Caruso said he's certain that Planet Hollywood is at fault, and the company might face civil action based on its negligence.

"We're going to fill the missing pieces of this puzzle and find out what happened to Adrian," Caruso said.

During the 2000 New Year's festivities, Tod Surmon, a 26-year-old assistant wrestling coach at Stanford University, died from a combination of electrocution and injuries sustained in a 30-foot fall from a light pole near Paris Las Vegas.

Tourism officials estimated that 320,000 people visited Las Vegas to welcome 2011, making it the largest New Year's Eve party west of the Mississippi.

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@review journal.com or 702-383-4638.