Letter, DNA lead to arrest in cold-case slaying

Her body was burned so badly that authorities dubbed her "Jane Copper Creek Doe" after the southeast valley neighborhood where she was found eight years ago.

A construction worker manning a Caterpillar scraper discovered the charred body on a dirt road near Sam Boyd Stadium on Aug. 17, 2004. At first, he thought he was staring at a mannequin.

So bad was the damage to her body that medical examiners were only able to identify her as a black female between the ages of 20 and 45.

Now, Las Vegas police know her name and the identity of the man who investigators say killed her.

A report released Tuesday identifies the woman as Latoshia Williams and the slaying suspect as Marco Cesar Romero-Laguna, 28.

He was arrested in connection with the cold-case slaying Monday.

A police spokesman said Romero-Laguna was extradited from Milwaukee and booked into the Clark County Detention Center to face the murder charge.

The report said Romero-Laguna told his then-girlfriend about the slaying, and she went to police.

Detectives also used a DNA sample taken from Romero-Laguna’s son to link the man with high probability to DNA found on burned matches recovered at the crime scene.

The report said that more than a month after the woman’s body was found, police received a tip via email that she might be a woman named "Tasha" Williams, who went missing on Aug. 17, 2004.

Police tracked down Williams’ parents and used their DNA to identify their daughter’s remains.

The biggest break in the case came on Feb. 9, 2006. That day, a detective received a letter from Andrea Romero, who said her ex-boyfriend, Romero-Laguna, confessed to killing a woman, burning her body and dumping it near Sam Boyd.

The letter gave details of the slaying that police had not made public. It also matched the time frame for when Williams went missing.

According to the police report, Romero’s letter detailed how Romero-Laguna met the woman, took her to a motel and strangled her with a cord when he caught her trying to steal from him.

The letter also described how he disposed of the body, hiding it in a blue storage bin where Romero kept her shoes, soaking it in gasoline for a few days and then burning it where the remains were found.

Romero told police she found a bag of the woman’s belongings and looked at her identification. She recalled seeing the name Denise, which was Williams’ middle name.

In June of this year, police made contact with Romero and the son she had with Romero-Laguna. The report said both Romero and her son provided DNA samples.

Detectives compared the results of the child’s test with DNA from an unknown male that was found on burned matches at the crime scene.

The test conclusively determined that the unknown male was the father of Romero’s child, the report said. A separate test determined with 99.99 percent probability that the child belongs to Romero-Laguna.

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