Monday, Feb. 1, 2010 | 12:50 p.m.
Location of alleged attack
Three men are facing murder charges after a 23-year-old man died from injuries suffered during an alleged beating with an aluminum baseball bat during a fight last month in northeast Las Vegas.
A complaint charging Alfonso Olea, 19; Rene Aviles, 25; and Ivan Molina-Cruz, 21; with murder with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit murder, battery with a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm and conspiracy to commit battery was filed Monday morning.
A preliminary hearing set for later this week in front of Justice of the Peace Melanie Andress-Tobiasson was rescheduled for Feb. 16.
The Clark County Coroner’s Office said Miguel Selva died Jan. 17 and it ruled the death a homicide. He died of blunt head trauma due to assault, a coroner’s spokeswoman said.
According to an arrest report, shortly after midnight Jan. 16, police responded to a fight in the parking lot of a convenience store near the intersection of Lake Mead Boulevard and Walnut Road. Selva, who had severe head injuries, was taken to University Medical Center, where he later died.
When police responded to the scene, a female friend who was with Selva told officers the two were in Selva’s van after leaving a party in the area when a silver Mitsubishi Eclipse pulled up next to them at a stoplight, the report says. The occupants of the Mitsubishi began yelling at Selva and the friend and a verbal altercation ensued. The occupants of both vehicles then agreed to pull into the parking lot of a convenience store in the 1500 block of North Lamb, according to the report.
Selva exited his vehicle and began to fight with a person later identified as Aviles, the arrest report said. Olea allegedly grabbed an aluminum baseball bat from the vehicle and hit Selva five or six times in the head, according to the report.
Witnesses said Molina-Cruz remained in the vehicle throughout the altercation.
Olea, Aviles and Molina-Cruz left the scene before police arrived but they were seen in a vehicle matching the description of the one given by Selva’s friend about 15 minutes after the alleged attack, the arrest report says.
Police stopped the vehicle and the three men were read their Miranda rights, interviewed, and booked into the Clark County Detention Center.
The report says investigators obtained surveillance video from the convenience store that allegedly shows Olea wielding the bat against Selva. After obtaining a search warrant for the vehicle, police found an aluminum bat in the Mitsubishi.
All three are being held without bail.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated to clarify the relationship between Selva and the woman he was with the night of Jan. 16.
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