Woman charged with aiding felon in Las Vegas road-rage shooting

Marcia Mingo was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on Oct. 3 after she allegedly lied to detectives to hide that her two adult children — Carmen Dilworth and Virgil Dilworth — were in a Dodge van with her on Aug. 5 when someone in the van fatally shot Jeffrey Boyajian, the Review-Journal has learned. The shooting happened about 7:30 p.m. when a white van pulled up to the driver’s side of Boyajian’s Chrysler 300 on Interstate 15 near the Silverado Ranch Boulevard exit, police have said.

Police were initially unable to locate the van but found it in Los Angeles County before the end of August. Court records indicate that while police do not think Mingo fatally shot the man, she does face a felony charge of harboring, concealing or aiding a felony offender in connection with the shooting.

“Marcia Mingo lied to detectives to protect the identity of the person who fired the gun and killed Jeffrey Boyajian,” according to Mingo’s arrest report.

Boyajian’s cousin said in August that Boyajian was fatally shot the day before his 59th birthday, and he was driving into town to celebrate with his mother.

According to Mingo’s arrest report, Boyajian had attempted to “brake check” a van that was tailgating him when the van pulled up beside Boyajian. People who pulled over to help Boyajian after witnessing the shooting told police they saw an arm “extend out of the passenger side window” and shoot at the Chrysler.

Competency question

A request for Mingo to be evaluated to determine if she was competent to stand trial was filed in Las Vegas Justice Court on Oct. 28, records show. The document indicates that while Mingo had not been “previously evaluated,” she may suffer from dementia.

As of Wednesday, Mingo was still being evaluated for competency and had not returned to the detention center, court documents and jail records show.

After Boyajian was killed, investigators began searching for the Dodge van, which they tried to pick out of a list of 556 possible vans that were registered with the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, according to the arrest report. Detectives were able to find one that matched “all of the specific details” of the van in the shooting.

Police traced the van to a Summerlin home that Mingo moved out of Aug. 5, the report said. Las Vegas police contacted Mingo in Los Angeles on Aug. 17, and she said that her husband, who she was in the process of getting a divorce from, drove the van from California to Las Vegas with two other people in the beginning of August while she was moving out of the home.

Mingo claimed that her husband passed off the van’s keys to her at the Summerlin home “around sunset,” but she “didn’t know the exact date.”

But Mingo’s husband denied being in Las Vegas on the day of the shooting, the report said. He also said he had sold the van to Mingo’s daughter.

Cellphone records

Through cellphone records, detectives determined that he was in Los Angeles on Aug. 5; the phone records also showed Mingo and her two children driving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas that day, the report said.

Mingo’s husband also told police he left a .380 pistol at the Summerlin home when he moved out in June. Detectives found three .380 cartridge cases at the scene of the shooting, the report said.

Court records do not indicate that either of Mingo’s children had been arrested in Clark County since the shooting. Metro homicide Lt. Ray Spencer did not immediately respond to request for comment Wednesday.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department records indicate that a 37-year-old Virgil Dilworth was arrested in Los Angeles on Sept. 23, but he was released in November. Booking records indicate Dilworth was arrested by a Los Angeles Police Department fugitive team.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_ newberg on Twitter.