Sin City Stories: Vegas True Crime

On October 26, 2003, a 911 call led police to a dry lakebed near Boulder City, Nevada – roughly 25 miles from the Las Vegas Strip. There, they discovered the unearthed remains of a brutalized human body.   Disturbing aspects of the crime scene immediately led investigators to conclude that the victim had not been the target of random violence. This had been a well-planned execution.   It would be...

To this day, the 1993 Circus Circus Casino heist in Las Vegas remains one of the most remarkable criminal escapades in U.S. History.    Over $3 million was stolen from an armoured truck in broad daylight, and the heist was carried out so smoothly that it took hours for anyone to realize a crime had even occurred. And while the planning and execution of the robbery itself was impressive, what happe...

In the early hours of October 1, 1993, a quiet but daring heist unfolded on the Las Vegas Strip.    What began as an ordinary day at the Circus Circus Hotel & Casino turned into a high-stakes mystery that would take years to unravel, forever changing the way casinos approached their security.    In a heist that seemed straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster, over $3 million in cash was stolen...

The Las Vegas Strip has its fair share of iconic hotels & resorts, perhaps none of which are more steeped in history & folklore than The Flamingo.   Part of the Vegas landscape since the mid-1940’s…it was the brainchild of a Los Angeles-based night club owner, restaurant owner and entertainment news publisher who wanted to build one of the most luxurious hotels & casinos Las Vegas had...

It was the summer of 1993 when Las Vegas casino mogul, Steve Wynn, was thrust into a nightmare that few people could ever imagine.   In a brazen late-night plot that seemed to come straight out of a Hollywood thriller, Wynn’s daughter had been kidnapped…abducted from her own home and held hostage by two men, who were now demanding that wynn hand over a huge ransom.   But this wasn’t just a simple...

It’s June 3, 1999…early morning, sometime around 5 am in a quiet neighborhood roughly a mile from the Las Vegas Strip.   Walking through this serene scene is a young man in his early twenties, draped in a camouflage shirt, sporting black pants and boots. In his hands, a pump-action shotgun loaded to maximum capacity. In his pockets are more shells…ready to be used. A total of nineteen shells in al...

As the early 1980’s rolled around, the cold war between the United States and Russia was well into its third decade and tensions between these global superpowers were steadily mounting.   As newly elected U.S. President Ronald Reagan promised to take an aggressive stance against the Soviets, Russian troops secretly invaded Afghanistan and the USSR faced an international backlash over their human r...

In the spring of 1980, headlines across the united states screamed out, “ ANGEL OF DEATH! ”   These sensational stories centered around 32-year-old Jani Adams , a nurse working the graveyard shift in a Las Vegas Intensive Care Unit. These articles about the so-called “Death Angel” carried a distinctly Vegas twist – word was, this nurse was running a hospital “dead pool”, placing wagers on when pat...

On a late-spring night in 1955, the Moulin Rouge in Las Vegas was coming alive with the promise of breaking down racial barriers. But as the city revelled in the excitement, a dark mystery was unfolding.   On May 25, 1955, renowned jazz saxophonist, Wardell Gray, who had been scheduled to be a part of the opening night entertainment at the Moulin Rouge, was found dead…his body discarded in the des...

October 1 st , 2017…it’s a date burned into the memories of Las Vegas locals and people around the world. It was on that day that from his high suite in a nearby hotel, a lone gunman focused his rage on a crowd of country music concert-goers. This turned the normally-festive Las Vegas Strip into a scene of unimaginable terror, and the site of the worst mass-shooting in modern U.S. history. Click h...

BONUS EPISODE With the passage of the 18th Amendment and the Federal Volstead Act, liquor was, by and large, made illegal across the United States starting in 1920 – including in the tiny newly-formed desert town of Las Vegas.   This immediately created a lucrative black market for the illicit sale of alcohol, and along with it came an explosion of violent crime as competing rackets fought for con...

BONUS EPISODE  Thousands of bombs have gone off across the United States over the course of the 20 th & 21 st centuries for every reason…from the personal, to the political, to the financial.   And through its short history, the city of Las Vegas has not been spared from the threat of criminal bombings. Click here to read more about some of the most famous bombings to occur in Las Vegas - inc...

BONUS EPISODE  The term "serial killer" originated in the 1970s and was coined to describe individuals who commit a series of murders, typically with a cooling-off period between each crime.    The FBI formally defined "serial murder" in the 1980s, highlighting the repetitive nature of the killings and the psychological motivation behind them.   The term has since become widely us...

Las Vegas resident, Frank Waters survived his service with the U.S. military in Europe during World War II. But only a year after the war's end, the consequences of Frank's actions overseas followed him thousands of miles back to the middle of the Mojave Desert, ultimately leading to a series of events that would end with Frank's murder and a trial that made international headlines. Cl...

In the spring of 1996, a trio of bodies were discovered in the desert just outside of Las Vegas. Initially believed to be victims of sex trafficking, the case remained unsolved for over a decade, demonstrating a troubling proposition: Three people can be murdered in a major American city, with little more than a passing mention in the local press and zero potential suspects. Click here to learn mo...

Nevada offers the same lax residency requirements to obtain divorce today as it did nearly 100 years ago; a person only has to live in the state for six weeks before being eligible to for a divorce. But not too long after Nevada gained a reputation as the place to go for a quickie divorce, Las Vegas was the scene of a brutal public murder on the steps of a law office in a tale involving domestic v...

It's one of the most high-profile murders in the history of Las Vegas. On a scorching hot 115 degree summer day, a former FBI agent & prominent attorney left his office in downtown Las Vegas and made his way to the third floor parking garage. Bill Coulthard climbing into the car, cracked the window, started the ignition, and THAT'S when it happened... Click here to learn more about the...

In 1950's Las Vegas, the most powerful newspaper owner in the city went on trial for publishing an editorial that Federal Prosecutors alleged was intended to incite the assassination of an extremely controversial U.S. Senator. The resulting court case was a national sensation, involving intrigue at the highest levels of the government and a concerted effort to defeat the destructive political...

In the 1970's Las Vegas was the site of bombings & murders...but not ALL of this mayhem was linked to the mafia. In the fall of 1975, a labor dispute between the Culinary Union and several off-strip restaurants escalated into violence. This ultimately resulted in the head of the Culinary Union, Al Bramlet , learning a very valuable lesson: No matter what, ALWAYS pay your hitman. Click here...

The trial surrounding the 1998 alleged murder of a casino heir was one of the most sensational cases in Las Vegas history, garnering national attention. But decades before tales of jilted lovers, underground vaults in the desert, and a man rapidly squandering his wealth on a wild lifestyle, Ted Binion was at the center of another Las Vegas crime plot. Click here to learn more about the planned kid...

During the 1970's, t he Las Vegas Hilton featured some of the most modern amenities in town along with incredible showcase entertainers. The hotel looked poised for additional growth and success heading into the 1980's. But the deadliest arson in modern Nevada history temporarily derailed the steady expansion the Hilton had enjoyed, while putting a young hotel busboy in the national spotli...

Las Vegas teenager Kim Bryant went missing from in front of her high school on a winter's day in 1979. Her abduction & murder would scar the Vegas community and remain unsolved for decades. But just as the case seemed to be going cold, new suspects in the disappearance would emerge - including a vicious serial killer known as "The Chameleon". Click here to read more about the story...

The 1979 daylight abduction of a teenager from a parking lot nearby her Las Vegas High School absolutely stunned the local community. It was only a few weeks before the body of Kim Bryant was discovered in the desert surrounding the city, but it would be decades before police would finally be able to figure out who was responsible for her tragic death. Click here to read more about the story of Ki...

For most people, Las Vegas is a neon-lit oasis. It's where they go to escape their day-to-day lives. They go to gamble in world class casinos, eat meals prepared by celebrity chefs, and take in performances from the biggest names in entertainment. But if you scratch the surface just a little bit, you'll find the stories that never made it onto the postcards...the stories that remain hidden...