Family mourns slain North Las Vegas man: ‘We lost our son to the streets’

Victorlee Boardley was a walking contradiction.

He was book smart, but naive. And although he was cherished at home, he sought validation with the wrong crowds.

“We lost our son to the streets,” his father, Vernon Boardley, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Thursday, days after his son was found slain in a park near his home.

North Las Vegas police found the 25-year-old graduate of Mojave High School and College of Southern Nevada dead from a gunshot wound to the chest on March 18 in the 4700 block of Boulder Bay Street, where he would sometimes go “clear his mind” after his overnight carpeting job.

A North Las Vegas police detective contacted his family later that evening.

“My husband came in front of me, crying,” said his mother, Estelita Boardley, who donned a Mojave volleyball T-shirt that belonged to her son.

Vernon Boardley said that even a sniffle would make him break out sobbing in the days following the slaying.

He never imagined having to bury one of his children.

“We see it every day on the news,” Boardley’s father said, adding that many would not understand such a tragedy “until it happens to you, until it comes to your house.”

The family laments that Victorlee Boardley’s life was cut short, and that his first-born son, who turns 1 next month, is now fatherless.

“I thought I would lose him to the penitentiary,” his father said. “I didn’t think he’d be murdered.”

His family said Boardley would often give his younger nephews talks about steering away from trouble. They wish he would have taken his own message to heart.

North Las Vegas police officer Alex Cuevas said Friday that no arrests had been made in Boardley’s death. Police have not disclosed a possible motive or suspect description.

Victorlee Boardley is also survived by three older brothers and a sister.

‘A fun kid’

Boardley was a “military brat,” born in Colorado Springs. His father’s service took them across the U.S. until 2005, when they settled at Nellis Air Force Base.

“He was just a fun kid,” said his older brother, James McSwain, noting that they ran around, played sports and even wrestled together.

He was “rambunctious” and “lovable,” their mother said.

“He was a good little brother,” Chris McSwain said.

The elder Boardley used the military to leave the tough streets of Baltimore, and instilled discipline and higher education to his children as a means to persevere, and youth sports as a way to keep busy.

At home, Victorlee Boardley was coddled and “sheltered.”

But his parents saw a change in him around middle school, when Chris McSwain left for college, leaving him as the only child at home.

Boardley began skipping nights at home.

“To me, it was like he could not wait to see what the world was really about,” his father said.

Still, he played high school volleyball, winning a state championship at Mojave and graduating with honors.

He enrolled at CSN, obtaining a communications degree and serving as the vice president of the Black Students Association.

His family had hoped fatherhood would change him. And it did, for a few weeks.

“He was trying to work it out,” his father said. “He wanted to do so much for his son.”

Asked what an arrest would mean to him, the father said it would be nice, but “irrelevant” to how he feels now.

”My life doesn’t change,” he said. “My son is never going to walk through that door again.”

The family said Boardley was the type of person to feel alone and “unappreciated,” and that he sought validation in the wrong places.

But after his death, his social media accounts were flooded with messages of people mourning their charismatic friend.

“I wish he could see it,” his father said.

“If you really love and appreciate a friend like that, make sure you let them know as much as you can,” his older brother James said. “Take them with them, try to help them see where they’re at so that they can go away from all those negative influences they can go towards the love, they can do more positive things.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact North Las Vegas police at 702-633-9111. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555 or crimestoppersofnv.com.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickytwrites.