Man faces charges tied to Las Vegas home fire that killed 3 dogs
A man with prior domestic battery convictions was arrested on suspicion of choking his ex-girlfriend and setting her trailer on fire, killing three of her dogs.
Johnathan Hamly, 30, was arrested and charged with attempted murder and arson after police said he jumped through a window into his ex-girlfriend’s house, choked her and then came back later to set her mobile home on fire, according to an arrest report from the Metropolitan Police Department.
Police were called around 1:30 p.m. Sunday to a mobile home that had caught fire at a location on Carey Avenue near Nellis Boulevard.
The resident told police the fire was caused by her ex-boyfriend, who earlier in the day had “grabbed her by the neck and threw her to the floor, holding her neck for approximately five seconds,” according to the arrest report. The victim said she was also hit about five times before Hamly left.
Investigators saw footage from a neighbor’s video camera where Hamly can be seen riding a bike back to the mobile home and running away as smoke begins to billow from the home, police said.
“Four canines were trapped in the home leaving them to be terrified as smoke and flames traveled toward them without an ability to escape until they were overcome by smoke inhalation,” the arrest report said.
The victim and one of her dogs escaped, but, among the four dogs trapped inside, two died at the scene, their mother later died at the veterinarian hospital and the fourth dog suffered smoke inhalation.
An online fundraiser to help the victim’s family find a new home had raised nearly $1,000 by Saturday night.
Hamly has been charged with attempted murder, two counts of first-degree arson, one count of domestic battery and one count of domestic battery by strangulation, four counts of willful and malicious torture of a dog and one count of burglary.
In June, he was found guilty of domestic battery after the victim said her ex-boyfriend punched her with a closed fist in February. He also has three prior charges of battery constituting domestic violence in 2008, 2010, 2011, and one charge of domestic battery in 2013, but all were dismissed after Hamly completed the court’s requirements.
He is being held without bail and expected to appear in court on Aug. 27.
Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.
