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‘No one deserves this,’ says sister of Las Vegas man found burned, dismembered in desert lot

The sister of the man whose body was found burned and dismembered in a desert lot three days after Christmas said Thursday that “no one deserves” to be killed and discarded the way he was.

The woman, Raquel Molina, said police called her family Wednesday to report that DNA results had confirmed the body found Dec. 28 was that of her brother, Ulyses C. Molina, 33. A police source confirmed the account.

“I was just really shocked,” the 31-year-old said.

It’s unclear where her brother was actually killed. Police said the day of the discovery that it appeared the body had been dumped, then burned on a lot in the 2000 block of Dolly Lane, near East Lake Mead Boulevard and Marion Drive.

A homeless person who sleeps in a tent nearby found the body.

While her brother’s heinous death left Molina in disbelief, she’s not unfamiliar with loss. Her biological father, Jaime B. Molina, 53, was killed last year after a fight broke out April 6 at Budget Suites of America, 4855 Boulder Highway, near Flamingo Road.

At least seven rounds were fired at her father that night, and at least one fatally struck him in the chest.

“It’s coincidence,” she said Thursday, pausing to collect herself as she cried. “I’m not sure what happened with my father. I don’t talk about it much.”

She added that her father had a history of being in and out of prison, so she and her siblings “grew up without him around.”

Her brother, who went by his middle name, which he spelled, “Cezar,” was a felon too, she said. In 1999, court records show he was convicted of two counts of attempted murder as a 16-year-old and was sentenced to 24 to 60 months prison.

Molina acknowledged the conviction and attributed it to gang activity. She said her siblings were affiliated with gangs at an early age, because of where they grew up and the environment they grew up in.

Since then though, she said, “he slowed down quite a bit.” Aside from that case, his criminal history showed only a handful of misdemeanors.

“He wasn’t the decentest person in the world, but I just feel like it was wrong the way they did him in,” she said. At home, he was a funny guy who tried his best to make people laugh. He was also a protector.

“When one of us got in trouble, he would be there,” his sister said. “He was there a lot for my mom,” who is “taking it the worst.”

“She’s been having mental breakdowns with what’s going on,” she added.

In between tears, Molina said the last time she saw her brother was in November. He had been helping their mother move.

He stayed with his mother often, but also moved from friend’s place to friend’s place, so it was common to not hear from him for brief periods of time. But in December, it was different.

She couldn’t reach him. No one could. The family called everyone they could think of, trying to figure out where he went.

Then, her family heard about the body on the news. The lot where it was found was right near where the siblings grew up.

“There was speculation it was him. Everybody was talking about it. I didn’t want to believe it,” she said. “I was just waiting until the DNA results. When they came in, it struck a chord.”

Detectives have not named a suspect in her brother’s death.

For now, as Molina processes her grief and waits for justice, she said, “I’m taking it day by day.”

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Metropolitan Police Department’s homicide unit at 702-385-5555.

Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @rachelacrosby on Twitter.

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