Death row inmate who killed his wife in Las Vegas dies
An inmate sentenced to death for his wife’s 2006 killing was reported dead by the Nevada Department of Corrections on Tuesday.
John Watson, 84, was pronounced dead at Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center on September 23. Watson was serving a death sentence at Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City after he being convicted of first-degree kidnapping and murder in 2010.
Watson was a retired high school math teacher. Prosecutors said that Watson had lured his wife, Evie Watson, to Las Vegas in July 2006 to celebrate her 50th birthday. Afraid that she would divorce him and take his money, he secretly planned to kill her, they said.
Watson rented a room at the Tuscany hotel-casino with false identification, the Review-Journal previously reported. There, prosecutors said, he shot his wife and mutilated her with a band saw.
Evie’s body was never discovered, though investigators found her DNA in a shower drain at the Tuscany. According to court records, in letters written from jail, Watson admitted to cooking and eating parts of the body.
After the jury found Watson guilty in 2010, they gave him the death penalty. Watson appeared in court again 11 years later, seeking a new trial. Then, his lawyer, Jamie Resch, said that his client was legally blind and used a wheelchair while at Ely State Prison.
In 1967, Watson was arrested in Oklahoma after boasting about raping, killing, and dumping the body of a hitchhiker. Police did not find her body after an exhaustive search, and no charges were filed. According to court documents, years later, Watson was also charged with making threats toward President Nixon.
The department did not disclose the cause of Watson’s death, though a news release said that attempts to contact his next of kin were unsuccessful.
Justin Norton, with the Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner’s Office, said Watson is suspected to have died from natural causes. Watson had been under medical care for a terminal illness prior to his death.
Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com. Staff reporter Estelle Atkinson contributed to this story.
