New details have emerged in the murder of Deborah Flores-Narvaez with the release Monday of an arrest report for her former boyfriend, Jason Griffith, who was charged Friday in connection with her murder.
A tip led police to discover Flores-Narvaez’s body had been dismembered, placed in plastic tubs and covered with cement. On Friday, investigators found the tubs in an apartment near Bonanza Road and Las Vegas Boulevard.
Check the news story here:According to the report, Griffith and Flores-Narvaez became involved in a domestic dispute at his North Las Vegas residence. The couple, according to police, had a violent relationship with three previous reports of domestic violence being filed with the department. In one of the three events, Griffith was listed as the victim; in the two others, Flores-Narvaez was the victim.
An acquaintance of Griffith contacted police Friday to report he tried to leave Flores-Narvaez's body, which was cemented in a plastic tub, at her residence Dec. 15. Griffith and his roommate, Louis Colombo, left the woman's residence when she "freaked out" after being told Flores-Narvaez's body was in the tub, according to the report.
The woman told police she hesitated to alert authorities because she didn't want to believe Flores-Narvaez was dead and she was afraid of Colombo.
Detectives questioned Colombo on Friday about Flores-Narvaez's disappearance and he gave the following version of events, according to the police report:
Flores-Narvaez came to the residence he shared with Griffith the night she disappeared and got into a violent altercation with Griffith. At one point, Colombo said he "had to pull Griffith off of Flores-Narvaez because he was choking her with his hands around her neck," according to the police report.
When Colombo returned to the house on Russian Olive Street in North Las Vegas later that night, Griffith confronted him at the front door and led him to Flores-Narvaez's dead body in another room.
The two then mixed concrete and poured it over Flores-Narvaez's body in a plastic tub. The next day, they rented a U-Haul truck and tried to store it at an apartment belonging to Griffith's friend in Henderson.
When that didn't work, they eventually decided to leave the tub at the house of Colombo's friends, who were out of the country.
After the tub started leaking at its new location, Colombo told police Griffith returned with new plastic tubs, a sledge hammer, a handsaw and cleaning supplies from Walmart. The two broke Flores-Narvaez out of the concrete, and Griffith allegedly dismembered her body before placing it in two separate tubs and filling them with concrete.
Before leaving the residence, they sealed the closet doors and the tools in another room.
After interviewing Colombo, police executed a search warrant at the apartment on Bonanza Way, where they found the plastic tubs as described by Colombo, according to the police report.
Police met Griffith at the Mirage Resort and Casino as he left work late Friday night. Griffith denied any involvement in the death of Flores-Narvaez when questioned by police that night and into Saturday morning.
When police arrested him after the interview, Griffith allegedly told a detective en route to the Clark County Detention Center that Flores-Narvaez's death was "not a premeditated thing."
Police said Saturday that more arrests are possible in the case, but Colombo has not been arrested so far, according to inmate records at the Clark County Detention Center.
Griffith is being held in the Clark County Detention Center without bail. He is scheduled to appear before a judge Tuesday morning in North Las Vegas Justice Court.
Griffith worked as a performer in Cirque du Soleil's "The Beatles LOVE" show at the Mirage. Officials from Cirque du Soleil declined to comment Monday about his legal situation.
The Clark County Coroner's Office has not released Flores-Narvaez's official cause and manner of death.
Check the Police press conference here:
Check the Police press conference here:
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