Man accused in slaying of 15-year-old girl bound over to district court

By Dave Toplikar

Friday, Jan. 21, 2011 | 1:15 p.m.

A Las Vegas man accused of killing a teenage girl and critically injuring a man in December in a southwest valley home invasion was bound over Friday to Clark County District Court on murder and robbery charges.

Norman Belcher Jr., 35, who was charged in the Dec. 6 death of 15-year-old Alexus Postorino, had a preliminary hearing Friday in Las Vegas Justice Court.

Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure heard from several state witnesses during the morning-long hearing, including shooting victim Nicholas Brabham.

Brabham, 31, testified via a telephone and video hookup from his hospital bed at University Medical Center that Belcher was the man who shot him during the home invasion that took place in the early morning hours of Dec. 6 at a three-bedroom home at 9752 Villa Lorena Drive.

Brabham said he knew Belcher, also known as "Bates," because Belcher had been at the home several times. Brabham said he left his upstairs bedroom to investigate the break-in and that Belcher shot him as he stood at the top of the stairs.

Bonaventure ruled there was enough evidence to forward the matter to district court.

Belcher will be arraigned on multiple felony charges at 9 a.m. Feb. 1 in district court. He is being held without bail in the Clark County Detention Center.

Belcher has been charged with burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, two counts of robbery with the use of a deadly weapon, murder with the use of a deadly weapon, attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon, battery with the use of a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm, and third-degree larceny.

Police received a report of shots fired at the residence at 2:43 a.m. Dec. 6. When they arrived, they found the door had been kicked in and Brabham, 31, and Postorino both suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Both were taken to UMC, where Postorino died and Brabham underwent surgery for gunshot wounds to the hip area.

After the shooting, police found a woman who was at the home who had jumped out a second-story window into the backyard after the shooting.

The woman, Ashley Riley, 29, testified Friday that she was a friend of Brabham and often bought marijuana and prescriptions drugs from him, which she resold to other people.

She said she was visiting with Brabham in his bedroom overnight, smoking marijuana and methamphetamine and playing music.

She said Brabham was using his laptop computer on his bed and had fallen asleep. She said she had also fallen asleep when she heard what sounded like banging on the front door, then glass breaking.

Riley said she woke Brabham and he got up and walked out of the bedroom. After she heard three or four gunshots, she then ran and hid in the bedroom closet, she told the court.

Riley said she then heard Brabham say "You shot me" and he came back into the room and laid down on the floor in the closet. He appeared to have been shot twice, she said.

Riley said she then heard what sounded like rummaging coming through the master bedroom, then more gunshots from the master bedroom, she said.

Eventually, said she thought Brabham was in a lot of pain and he asked her to get help. She said she took his cell phone from the bed, opened the bedroom screen window and jumped out. She said as she jumped she hurt her ankle and banged her head.

She was almost over the back wall when she heard police arrive.

Riley said the last time she saw Alexus Postorino was when the girl went to sleep in her father's room, the master bedroom.

In earlier testimony, Alexus' father, Bill Postorino, said he had given his daughter permission to sleep in his room because her room was being painted.

Postorino, who wasn't at home at the time of the shooting, said his daughter was an honor student at the Southwest Career and Technical Academy.

He testified that he had known Belcher since the fifth grade.

"I considered him a good friend," Postorino said.

Postorino said he didn't have a job, so to make money he had been selling marijuana and prescription drugs, including Vanex, Lortabs and Oxycodone. Belcher had been at his home often and knew where he kept money and drugs, and also knew he had a safe in the master bedroom, Postorino said.

However, Postorino said the two men had been in an argument because Belcher claimed that Postorino owed him money, police said.

Postorino claimed that he thought Belcher had come over to his home on Dec. 1, broke in and took marijuana, drugs, about $750 in cash and other items. The reason was that the defendant had phoned him earlier that day to see if he would be at home.

Postorino said he accused Belcher of burglarizing his home, but Belcher denied it.

"I suspected him, but had no proof, so I told him to leave me alone," Postorino said.

However, Belcher sent him a threatening text message on Dec. 3, Postorino said. The threats indicated that if Belcher was killed, Belcher's friends would be told where Postorino's family and friends lived, Postorino said.

Postorino said he had never threatened Belcher and had never told anyone else to harm Belcher.

Postorino said Belcher sent him text messages saying Postorino owed him $450, but Postorino didn't know why he thought that. After receiving multiple demands for the $450, Postorino said he decided to pay to end the confrontations.

"I didn't want problems," he said. "It was cheaper to pay him."

Postorino said that when Belcher came for the money, he wasn't at home, but had his roommate, Bradham give him the money on Dec. 4. After that, he didn't hear from Belcher and thought the issue had been resolved, Postorino said.

Postorino, who had had custody of his daughter since she was 3 months old, said his daughter had a lot of friends and didn't have any enemies who would want to harm her.

He said he was at a casino at the time of the shooting.

Other witnesses who testified included Brenda Williams, a neighbor, who was woken around 3 a.m. Dec. 6 up by the sound of a large metal object being dragged on the street to a car. Police showed her a photo of a white car that had been found burning later that morning 400 block of N. Lamb Boulevard. She said it looked like the same car.

Police also identified the car, a 2009 four-door white Nissan Versa, as being the same one that had been rented by Belcher from United Nissan. Johnny J. Laroya, who managed the key room at the car rental, produced a rental agreement that showed Belcher's drivers license number on the agreement.

A Metro police officer also testified that he had stopped Belcher for driving 74 mph in a 55 mph zone at 3:16 a.m., driving east on the 215 Beltway, away from the shooting scene, in the same vehicle police had found burning a few hours later.