Hearing set for man accused in death of woman found dead in desert

By Dave Toplikar

Thursday, June 24, 2010 | 1:43 p.m.

A preliminary hearing has been rescheduled for September for a man charged in connection with the strangling death of a woman whose body was found in early May near a quarry in the desert outside Boulder City.

Harold Marin, 34, also known as Harold Marin-Velasquez, has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of 43-year-old Edis Hernandez-Quintanilla.

Marin's attorney asked to have the preliminary hearing rescheduled and Justice of the Peace Nancy Oesterle continued it to 9:30 a.m. Sept. 2 in Las Vegas Justice Court.

He is currently being held on $250,000 bail in the Clark County Detention Center on the murder charge and a charge of sexual assault.

According to a Metro Police arrest report, Marin confessed to the crime while being questioned at the Boulder City Police Department.

Police found Hernandez-Quintanilla’s body about 9:30 a.m. May 1, shortly after stopping Marin, who had been seen walking in the area before leaving at a high rate of speed in his 2004 GMC Yukon, according to an arrest report.

Officers became suspicious after seeing condoms, eyeliner and a Nevada driver’s license for Hernandez-Quintanilla on the floor of his vehicle. They also noted Marin appeared to be intoxicated and smelled of alcohol.

The report noted that he had dried blood on his shirt and pants and his clothing appeared to be disheveled. An officer returned to the area where Marin had been seen and found Hernandez-Quintanilla’s body. The officers were able to determine that her identity matched the driver’s license in Marin's vehicle, the report said.

The Clark County Coroner’s Office said she died of asphyxiation and ruled her death a homicide.

Marin was taken to the Boulder City Police Department for questioning. As police were collecting his clothing and scraping his fingernails for DNA, he made the statement that, “I don’t know why you are doing all this, I have blood on my hands; I’m guilty,” the report stated.

Marin later told detectives he met Hernandez-Quintanilla at the Silver Saddle Saloon on Charleston Boulevard and Fremont Street, the report said. Marin said the woman had agreed to have sex with him for $50, but an altercation arose when she asked for more money, the report stated. The two began struggling inside his Yukon.

A man who had been in the bar and helped to arrange the transaction got into the Yukon at one point, but Marin, who claimed to police he had martial arts training, struck the man and he exited the vehicle, the report said.

Marin told officers Hernandez-Quintanilla began choking him but he was able to deflect her; he then began choking her until she went limp, the report said.

He told police he believed he was in Arizona when he dumped the body.