Killings of Sydney Land and Nehemiah Kauffman
Location4550 South Hualapai Way, Las Vegas, Nevada
Coordinates36°6′32″N 115°18′50.6″W / 36.10889°N 115.314056°W / 36.10889; -115.314056
DateOctober 26, 2016
Attack type
Homicide
WeaponsFirearm
Deaths2
VictimsSydney Land, Nehemiah Kauffman
CoronerClark County Coroner's Office

On October 26, 2016, Sydney Land and her boyfriend Nehemiah Kauffman were shot dead in her apartment in Las Vegas, Nevada. Their bodies were found the next day. Initially, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (also known as Metro) announced that they had no motive and no suspects. Land's mother, Connie Land, asserted that Sydney had possibly been targeted for prostitution grooming by pimps. A local judge, Melanie Andress-Tobiasson, had befriended Connie over shared concerns about sex trafficking in Las Vegas, but the two friends had a falling out after Andress-Tobiasson compelled Connie to hand over confidential text messages the latter had received from a Metro homicide detective working the case. Connie was found dead in August 2022, and Andress-Tobiasson was found dead in February 2023, both having died from gunshot wounds. The Clark County Coroner's Office ruled Andress-Tobiasson's death a suicide. Although a number of people allegedly involved in local sex trafficking were declared either persons of interest or suspects in the case, as of January 2023 no arrests had been made in the killings of Land and Kauffman.

Background

Prostitution is legal in certain counties of the US state of Nevada,[1] but it is illegal in Clark County, home of Las Vegas.[2] Sex trafficking is illegal in the entire United States.[3][4]

In 2015, Melanie Andress-Tobiasson's 16-year-old daughter Sarah found work in a local clothing store named Top Knotch. Sarah noticed illegal activity in and around the shop involving sex trafficking, and reported it to her mother, a Las Vegas judge.[5] Andress-Tobiasson, suspecting that her daughter was in danger of being entrapped by pimps at the shop, handed over this information to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (also known as Metro).[5] She added that she was especially "terrified" of the shop owner, Shane "Suga" Valentine,[5] and strongly urged vice detectives to investigate him.[6] She expected the establishment to be quickly shut down.[5] After she saw that nothing had been done, Andress-Tobiasson forced her way into Valentine's home in order to confront him about his illicit activities and warn him off of her daughter.[5]

Killings

In August 2016, Sydney Elysse Land[7] (age 21) moved out of her parents' Las Vegas home and leased an apartment at 4550 South Hualapai Way in the southwest part of the Las Vegas Valley.[8] According to Metro, Land and her boyfriend, alleged pimp[5][9] Nehemiah "Neo" Kauffman (20) were last seen alive on the night of October 25 by convicted prostitute Frankie Zappia and Dominique Thompson, Zappia's alleged pimp.[10] On October 26, unknown assailants entered the apartment and shot and killed Land and Kauffman,[11] both having been shot in the head.[12] Their bodies were found by a neighbor the next day at 12:40 p.m.[7] Kauffman was found sprawled on the living room floor, and Land was found on the bedroom floor.[12] The following day, Metro announced that they had no motive and no suspects in the shootings, although they had reason to believe that two male perpetrators were involved.[7] After Land's father, Steve Land, visited the apartment, he claimed that Metro left evidence there uncollected. He stated that they never interviewed him or his wife, Connie Land, after the killings, nor did they send a detective to their home to go over Land's room.[8]

Investigation

Valentine, an associate of Kauffman's, was soon declared a person of interest in the case.[11] This pronouncement stemmed from events that occurred on October 8 when, during a heated exchange of texts, Kauffman accused Valentine of being a police informant.[13] Valentine then threatened to kill Kauffman, along with Land and her girlfriend, at a local Las Vegas casino.[12] Later that day, after Kauffman went to his mother's home, Valentine rammed his rental car into the home's garage, and shot bullets into the dwelling.[12] A crime scene analyst recovered some items from the home that day, including pieces of plastic and an emblem from the car, along with a boulder that had been thrown into a window,[12] but a bullet was only recovered on October 30.[13] After the killings of Land and Kauffman, a search warrant was put out for Valentine's arrest.[12] Investigators later determined that after the killings, Valentine had driven to California in the same vehicle used in the garage incident.[13] They said that they recovered the text messages that Valentine had sent to Kauffman which contained death threats.[14] Valentine was subsequently arrested, and arraigned on account of the October 8 firearms discharges and agreed to a plea deal, but was never charged with the murders.[5][12] His bail was set at $50,000.[14] As of August 2019, Valentine remained incarcerated at Warm Springs Correctional Center on those charges.[13]

In early 2017, Andress-Tobiasson contacted Connie Land after the former discovered that they both shared concerns about sex trafficking in Las Vegas.[5][15] The two women, who soon became fast friends, became convinced that sex traffickers were specifically targeting daughters of judges and law-enforcement personnel.[5] Both women shared the belief that Valentine was not being charged in the killings by law enforcement because he was a police informant.[5] Andress-Tobiasson compelled Connie to hand over confidential text messages relevant to the investigation the latter had received from a Metro homicide detective who was handling the case.[5] Andress-Tobiasson expressed the belief that she and her daughter Sarah were the killer's real intended targets, as a consequence of Metro revealing her as a source during an interview the day before the killings occurred,[15] and Connie seconded this belief.[11] Subsequently, the two women had a falling-out between them. Andress-Tobiasson had been advising Connie about which Metro detective in her opinion was more trustworthy to deal with.[15] Andress-Tobiasson later claimed that an acquaintance in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with whom she was conversing via burner phone in order to ensure confidentiality of the discussions,[16] would soon be contacting Connie in regards to the case, although this never came to pass.[15] With a belief that Metro was dragging its feet in regard to the investigation, the Land family began to publicize the case via digital billboards.[11]

On April 12, 2018, Andress-Tobiasson appeared in an interview on KLAS-TV. During the interview, she asserted her belief that Metro was not interested in targeting shops serving as fronts for prostitution, adding that she was more afraid of the police than the sex traffickers themselves.[15] Metro officers began submitting complaints about Andress-Tobiasson to the Clark County Sheriff, accusing her of ethics violations in regard to her personal interest in the investigation of the goings-on at Top Knotch.[17] According to the Nevada Current, around this time Metro named Zappia and Thompson as suspects in the killings of Land and Kauffman.[10]

In September 2020, Andress-Tobiasson faced 8 charges of judicial misconduct levied at her by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline. By that time, Valentine had been cleared by Metro of being a person of interest in the case.[18] As of January 2023, no arrests had been made in the killings of Land and Kauffman.[19]

Aftermath

In May 2021, Andress-Tobiasson resigned herself from being a judge due to an ongoing ethics inquiry surrounding her interest in the double-murder investigation.[19] On August 10, 2022, Connie (53) was declared dead from a gunshot wound. According to the Toronto Sun, the wound was self-inflicted.[5] On January 20, 2023, Andress-Tobiasson (55) died from a gunshot wound in her Las Vegas home.[5] The Clark County Coroner's Office ruled Andress-Tobiasson's death a suicide.[19] Dana Gentry, a Las Vegas blogger and acquaintance of Andress-Tobiasson told the New York Post, "I can't tell you how many times Melanie told me, 'If I wind up dead, remember I wasn't suicidal."[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Albert, Alexa (2001). Brothel : Mustang Ranch and its women (First ed.). New York. ISBN 0-375-50331-5. OCLC 45283260.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ↑ "NRS: CHAPTER 244 - COUNTIES: GOVERNMENT". www.leg.state.nv.us. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  3. ↑ United States Government. "Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000" (PDF). U.S. Department of State. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  4. ↑ Tiefenbrun, Susan W. (2006). "Updating the Domestic and International Impact of the U.S. Victims of Trafficking Protection Act of 2000: Does Law Deter Crime?". Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law. 38 (2): 249–280.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Hunter, Brad (February 18, 2023). "Crime Hunter: A Double Murder, Two Suicides Tied to Vegas Sex Trade". Toronto Sun. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  6. ↑ Yamat, Rio (January 24, 2023). "Ex-Las Vegas Judge Who Resigned to Settle Ethics Probe Dies". ktnv.com. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 Lacanlale, Rio (October 29, 2016). "Family, Friends Identify Couple Found Dead in Las Vegas Apartment Shooting". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  8. 1 2 Poppa, Doug (October 15, 2019). "Land/Kauffman Homicide: Murdered Daughter's Father Found Evidence Left Behind by Las Vegas Metro Police at Crime Scene". Baltimore Post-Examiner. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  9. ↑ Lara, Evaristo (February 16, 2023). "Suicidios de Madres que Denunciaron Tráfico Sexual de Menores en Las Vegas Despiertan Sospechas" [Suicides of Mothers Who Reported Child Sex Trafficking in Las Vegas Raise Suspicion]. El Diario La Prensa (in Spanish). ProQuest 2777154044. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  10. 1 2 Poppa, Doug (September 8, 2023). "Frankie Zappia, Last Known Person To See Las Vegas Murder Victims Alive, Arrested in Tennessee on Theft Charges". Baltimore Post-Examiner. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Torres-Cortez, Ricardo (October 26, 2018). "2 Years later, Mother Presses for Break in Case of Daughter's Slaying". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Poppa, Doug (February 4, 2019). "Las Vegas Sex-trafficker Who is Suspect in Unsolved Double Homicide Threatened Victims Weeks Before the Murders". Baltimore Post-Examiner. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Poppa, Doug (August 5, 2019). "Exclusive: Las Vegas Grand Jury Evidence Hints Convicted Felon 'Suga' Shane Valentine is a Snitch". Baltimore Post-Examiner. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  14. 1 2 Thomas, Kelsey (November 15, 2016). "A New Break and a Familiar 'Person of Interest' in Young Couple's Murder". news3lv.com. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Poppa, Doug (October 13, 2019). "Exclusive: Las Vegas Metro Police Text Message Confirms Vice Detectives Outed Judge Melanie Andress-Tobiasson". Baltimore Post-Examiner. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  16. ↑ Poppa, Doug (August 29, 2019). "Judge: FBI Agent Couldn't Trust FBI Las Vegas Division". Baltimore Post-Examiner. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  17. ↑ Bolies, Corbin (January 22, 2023). "Las Vegas Judge Who Resigned Amid Ethics Investigation Dies by Suicide: A Two-year Probe Determined She Used Her Post to Order a Police Investigation Into her Daughter's Place of Work". The Daily Beast. ProQuest 2767697189. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  18. ↑ Chen, Jeremy (September 3, 2020). "Las Vegas Judge Accused of Being Improperly Involved in Double Homicide Case". ktnv.com. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  19. 1 2 3 "Las Vegas Judge Who Resigned to Settle Ethics Investigation Commits Suicide by Gunshot". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Associated Press. January 23, 2023. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.