State investigates construction worker’s death in Las Vegas
A 67-year-old Henderson electrician, who immigrated to the United States about 28 years ago from the Philippines, died Friday while on the job at a construction site east of the Strip.
The Clark County coroner’s office on Monday identified the man as Henry Hortillosa. He was pronounced dead at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center of blunt force trauma, and the coroner’s office has ruled his death an accident.
Few details about the circumstances leading to his death have been released by the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration, but spokeswoman Teri Williams confirmed Monday that the agency had opened an investigation.
“All other information is confidential until the investigation is closed,” she said in an email to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Las Vegas police call logs show that the Metropolitan Police Department responded just after 11 a.m. Friday to the construction site near Sierra Vista Drive and Swenson Street to investigate a report of a body. A request for more information from Metro was not immediately returned.
On Monday, his wife of 17 years, Chona, told the Review-Journal that the world has lost a “funny and hard-working” man.
“There was never a dull moment with him,” she said.
The couple had first met in Iloilo, Philippines, a province in the Western Visayas located on one of the country’s central islands. The two were friends first, and eventually Henry Hortillosa left for Guam. But, according to his wife, he soon returned to the Philippines to propose to her.
The two had been living in the Las Vegas area for about 18 years before his death. He also leaves behind their two sons, ages 25 and 27.
Chona Hortillosa declined to discuss the details of her husband’s death further on Monday.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.
