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Las Vegas girl killed over $450 dispute, prosecutors suggest in death penalty trial

Fifteen-year-old Alexus Postorino was shot and killed because of a dispute over $450, prosecutors suggested Monday through testimony in the death penalty trial of Norman Belcher.

In the days before Alexus was killed, Norman Belcher sent threatening text messages to the girl’s father.

Belcher thought William Postorino owed him the money for forged drug prescriptions.

“If we refund my slips, the total is $1,450, and I owe you $1,000, so my $450 is being overlooked and now have justifiable reason to get what is owed to me,” Belcher typed in a text message to Postorino. “And I’m actually hoping that you don’t pay me, because I then feel like I’m following protocol … So $450 or war. An element of surprise.”

Authorities have said Belcher arrived at the Postorinos’ southwest valley home in the early morning of Dec. 6, 2010, intending to commit a burglary and leave no living witnesses.

Belcher and Postorino had been friends since fifth grade, but had a falling out before the killing.

Just five days before Alexus’ death, someone broke into Postorino’s home, while the girl was alone and asleep. The burglar stole cash, marijuana, Xanax and a PlayStation.

Postorino suspected Belcher, and told him, “Until I find out any different, I’m done with you.”

Defense attorney Robert Draskovich began to imply that Postorino’s involvement in illicit drugs meant that anyone could have been out to rob him.

Postorino admitted that he had been arrested in February 2010, carrying marijuana, methamphetamines and a gun, while his then-14-year-old daughter was in the car.

He was at a casino when Alexus was killed. The girl had four gunshot wounds, including two to the chest.

A few months beforehand, Belcher had left prison, where he had been sent for a voluntary manslaughter conviction in a 2003 homicide case.

Investigators linked Belcher to a white 2009 Nissan Versa that a neighbor had seen a man loading up before speeding off.

Belcher is accused of stealing a 60-inch television, a laptop computer and a metal safe containing money before leaving the home in the 9700 block of Villa Lorena Avenue, near Tropicana Avenue and Grand Canyon Drive.

The Nissan, which Belcher had rented, was found burning in a parking lot near Craig Road and Lamb Boulevard, not far from the defendant’s apartment.

A patrol officer had stopped Belcher in the Nissan near the scene of the shooting and had given him a traffic citation about half an hour after the home invasion.

The car keys also were found in his possession.

Belcher faces seven felony charges, including one count of murder with a deadly weapon and two counts of armed robbery.

Defense attorney Gary Modafferi told jurors in opening statements last week that detectives did not pursue leads they could have, including a volatile boyfriend of Ashley Riley, who was at the residence and was friends with the men who lived there.

On Monday, Draskovich suggested that Postorino initially had questions about who killed his daughter.

“Metro has convinced you that they think (Belcher) is guilty of this murder,” the attorney said while cross-examining Postorino.

“No,” Postorino said.

The attorney pressed on: “You’ve been shown no evidence, correct?”

“That’s why we’re here,” Postorino said.

“You learned about the burnt car, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And that was the change,” Draskovich said. “Once you heard about him burning a car, then he must be the murderer, correct?

“No,” Postorino said, and testimony wrapped for the day. He is scheduled to continue testifying on Tuesday afternoon.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.

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