Las Vegas police: Suspect in 1994 homicide not connected to series of deaths

The Metropolitan Police Department said there is “no evidence” that a suspect identified Tuesday in a homicide from 1994 is connected to several other deaths in the same decade, despite Metro officers having suspicions otherwise in 1997.

In a briefing Tuesday afternoon, Metropolitan Police Department homicide Lt. Jason Johansson said forensic genetic genealogy, a tool used in criminal investigations that harnesses consumer DNA data — or DNA provided by consumers to companies like 23andMe and Ancestry.com — to identify suspects, led police to a suspect in the death of Melonie White, whose body was found by hikers near Lake Mead National Recreation Area in August 1994.

Police named Arthur Lavery, who died in May 2021 from complications with COVID-19, as the suspect who killed Melonie White.

“The solving of her murder will help bring a measure of peace to her and all of us,” Jason White, Melonie White’s younger brother, said Tuesday.

In the three years following Melonie White’s death, three other women were found dead in the same 4-mile radius in the far eastern Las Vegas Valley.

In 1997, Metro Sgt. Bill Keeton told the Review-Journal, “we should be concerned about the number of the women found in this particular area.”

Another of the four women found was later identified as Margaret Hicks. The Review-Journal reported in 1997 that both Hicks and Melonie White were sex workers who had worked near Fremont Street.

In the same article, Robert Keppel, a law enforcement veteran who investigated some of serial killer Ted Bundy’s crimes, said, “the odds of those victims not being related are 1,000 to one.”

However, while at the time police believed five women’s bodies had been found, one of the victims was later identified as a 14-year-old runaway boy from Henderson, Michael Rainey.

It took detectives three years to identify Rainey’s body. Only after two exhumations, extensive study by anthropologists and confusion over the body’s gender did police identify Rainey, who was shot and killed after running away from home in August 1996, according to a Review-Journal article from 1999.

“In 1997, one homicide detective speculated that Rainey’s body might have been a serial killer’s victim,” the Review-Journal reported. “Several female bodies were found buried near Lake Mead in 1996 and early 1997, though investigators no longer believe Rainey’s death was connected.”

While Metro said the department’s Homicide Section “has and will continue to investigate” if Lavery is related to other homicides, there was nothing at this time linking him to any other killings.

The DNA testing that led to the identification of Lavery was funded by a donation from the Vegas Justice League, a group composed of local volunteers who help solve cold cases by donating funds for the reevaluation of DNA evidence.

Justin Woo, a founder of the league, said he was aware of the Review-Journal article detailing a possible link between the deaths from the 90s, but that detectives confirmed the DNA that led to answers for the White family “does not match the other cases.”

Metro lists open homicide cases on its website, including Rainey’s. But cases matching the description of the three women found are not listed. Police have not yet responded to requests for an update on the status of their cases.

Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estellelilym on X and @estelleatkinsonreports on Instagram.