Suspect held without bail after dismembered man found in stolen truck
A man accused of cutting up a body and storing it in a stolen vehicle was ordered held without bail Tuesday morning at the first court hearing since his arrest last week.
“The victim is literally cut into pieces,” Clark County Deputy District Attorney Giancarlo Pesci said. “He has been disarticulated, dismembered. His head is cut off.”
Eric Holland, 57, was arrested Thursday and booked on a murder charge, according to court records.
Holland was found in a stolen truck with two coolers, which police said contained two legs and a torso, and a black trash bag with a “severed human head,” according to an arrest report released later Tuesday by the Metropolitan Police Department.
The Clark County coroner’s office identified the victim as Richard Miller, 65, and ruled he died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Police initially tried to stop Holland while he was driving a Toyota Tundra around 3:42 p.m. on Thursday near Tropicana Avenue and Duneville Street. Metro’s helicopter followed Holland as police said he drove off and eventually switched trucks. Holland was later pulled over at an apartment complex on West Rochelle Avenue while driving a Chevrolet Avalanche.
Holland tried to run away through the complex but was stunned with a Taser and detained, according to the arrest report.
Both trucks were reported stolen in 2018, according to the report.
In court, Pesci presented photos to Justice of the Peace Harmony Letizia and argued that there was video of Holland inside a Home Depot purchasing a saw. Inside the vehicle, Pesci said police found receipts for the saw and trash bags.
“I have not given you the actual dismembered head,” Pesci said, referencing evidentiary photos. “I have it here if you need it.”
Holland was represented by Clark County Public Defender Sarah Hawkins, who argued that Holland has not confessed and that the evidence presented against him wasn’t substantial.
“We have no testimony from anyone involved in this,” she said.
Letizia asked that a detective from the case be brought to the next court hearing.
Pesci said Holland had a criminal history dating to a juvenile record from the 1970s, including assault with a deadly weapon, assaulting a police officer causing substantial bodily harm and theft. It was unclear where Holland was charged with those crimes or whether he was convicted.
Court records show Holland has an open case from 2018 where he was charged with obtaining or using the personal identification of another person, embezzlement of a vehicle, intent to forge a check or bill and theft. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in the case in January.
He will face another bail hearing in the homicide case on Jan. 4.
Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.