Las Vegas police make second arrest in 2013 shooting death
Las Vegas police have arrested a second person in connection with the shooting death of a 70-year-old actor in a “Star Trek” attraction.
James Martinez-Amador, 27, was taken into custody Wednesday in connection with the December 2013 slaying of Charles Thomas Deishley. Martinez-Amador faces one count of harboring or aiding a fugitive and unrelated traffic charges. Court records show he has since been released on bond.
The Metropolitan Police Department identified 57-year-old Kelleen Cota and Martinez-Amador as suspects in the case on Sept. 14, the same day Cota was booked on one count each of murder with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit murder. A warrant for their arrests was issued on Sept. 7.
Cota, Martinez-Amador and Janette Anais Martinez, his sister, were previously accused in an August 2016 indictment of defrauding Deishley of nearly $1 million. All three defendants are scheduled to face a jury in February on the charges.
Though none of the defendants was charged with murder at that time, the indictment linked them to Deishley’s killing. The indictment alleged that the trio financed a criminal syndicate and conspired to “engage in murder with use of a deadly weapon.”
The arrest warrants were issued after Deishley’s son found a bullet with markings that matched test bullets fired from a gun registered to Cota. He found it inside a plastic table, next to the chair where police found his father’s body three-and-a-half years ago. According to Cota’s arrest report, the handgun was found in Martinez-Amador’s possession during the 2016 homicide investigation.
Deishley performed in “Star Trek: The Experience” at the former Las Vegas Hilton, now the Westgate, for more than a decade.
Contact Max Michor at mmichor@reviewjournal.com. Follow @MaxMichor on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writers Rio Lacanlale and David Ferrara contributed to this story.