Las Vegas hearing reset for man held in duffel bag slaying

Associated Press

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015 | 12:27 p.m.

A preliminary hearing was reset Tuesday in Las Vegas for a man who was returned from Louisiana to Las Vegas to face murder and other charges in the death of a 71-year-old woman whose body was found in a duffel bag in an underground utility vault.

Jamar Kenty Webb, 33, stood in shackles and spoke only to acknowledge that he was willing to wait until Dec. 15 for a preliminary hearing in the death of Young Suk Sanchez. Other charges include conspiracy, kidnapping and robbery of a victim over the age of 60.

A county special public defender, David Schieck, was named to represent Webb. He said outside court that Webb plans to plead not guilty.

Webb has been in custody at the Clark County jail in Las Vegas since his transfer in custody Oct. 24 from Minden, Louisiana.

His 23-year-old girlfriend and co-defendant, Veronica Johnvae Houck, remained in Louisiana. She was sentenced Monday in Webster County District Court to four years in Louisiana state prison for violating felony probation on a May 2013 identity theft conviction, a court clerk said.

Houck is sought on a warrant on murder, robbery, kidnapping and conspiracy charges in Las Vegas.

Houck and Webb were arrested in Louisiana about two weeks after Sanchez's decomposing body was found Sept. 22 by a utility worker checking a broken lock on the cover of a water district valve locker near a complex of extended-stay suites in Las Vegas.

Police say Houck and Webb were neighbors of Sanchez at the complex in a gritty neighborhood near a casino district southeast of downtown. They're accused of killing Sanchez on Aug. 18 and using her credit cards to fund their trip to Louisiana.

Houck told police that Sanchez died after she and Webb duct-taped the elderly woman's feet, hands and mouth and put a trash bag over her head, set a cellphone timer and returned about 30 minutes later.