Man held in wife’s death after extradition from Philippines
A 53-year-old man accused of burying his wife in a shallow grave in the backyard of his central valley home was extradited from the Philippines and was being held at the Clark County Detention Center on Wednesday, according to jail records.
Hugh Cave, whose wife, Gloria Cave, 45, was discovered April 23 buried beneath a planter in the backyard of Cave’s home, was booked into jail Friday. He is being held without bail and faces the recommended charge of murder.
Gloria Cave’s cause and manner of death have not yet been determined by the Clark County coroner’s office.
According to Hugh Cave’s arrest report, detectives began their investigation when someone renting the house from Cave found the human remains while doing yard work at the house at 1301 Gold Ave., near Vegas Drive and Martin Luther King Boulevard.
"The body was covered in a tan-colored plastic, a white tarp, and some sort of additional fabric," the report said. "Lime was spread out over and around the body in layers. The body was tied on the outside with a quarter-inch, yellow nylon rope. The rope around the upper torso had what appeared to be the handle of a hammer through it as a makeshift handle. The same type of rope was wrapped around the bundle at least three other times at the waist, hips and lower legs."
A doctor who examined Gloria Cave’s body did not find signs of trauma.
The report added that Hugh Cave told his wife’s family in the Philippines that she was killed in a car accident in Las Vegas.
His wife’s friends and co-workers in Las Vegas got a mirror image of the story: Cave told them she had died in a car accident in the Philippines. Police didn’t find any records of Gloria Cave being involved in a car accident.
Homicide Lt. Lew Roberts said Wednesday that Cave’s return to Las Vegas will ensure that justice is served for the victim.
"I’m glad he’s back so he can go to trial and face the penalty for doing the heinous act that he did," Roberts said.
Police said Hugh Cave’s fabrications kept him off law enforcement’s radar for months. He was arrested by the FBI in the Philippines.
The arrest report said Gloria Cave’s body was highly decomposed. Investigators were able to identify the tattooed eyebrows she was known to have.
On Hugh Cave’s Facebook page, he described himself as a widower searching for a partner. He wrote: "Looking to end the pain, and find someone whom i can share my life with once again. All i want is, ‘Forever’. :)"
His favorite quote is, "Anything worth doing, is worth doing Right," his account said.
Cave declined an interview request Wednesday.
The arrest report said that investigators do not know exactly when Gloria Cave was killed. A neighbor told police that Hugh Cave approached him in late December or early January and asked whether he had heard Gloria Cave yelling the previous night.
The neighbor told police that Hugh Cave said that his wife was watching a Philippine talk show and that she "went crazy" and started yelling at the television.
One tenant at Cave’s Gold Avenue house told police she drove Cave to the airport Feb. 7.
Cave has a preliminary hearing scheduled for June 28.
Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.
