Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Man arrested in beating death of woman, 67, near Boulder Highway

A man who allegedly beat up a woman who was out for a walk and who later succumbed to her injuries has been accused in her murder, according to a Metro Police arrest warrant.

Alexander Duwarte, 33, who detectives had questioned multiple times about the June 19, 2016, incident, was arrested Monday and booked at the Clark County Detention Center on one count of murder.

Christine Ralston, 67, died the following month from complications of the assault, police said.

Before being rushed to the hospital, Ralston was able to seek help and describe the attacker, who she believed to be a man who had sexually harassed her twice before.

Officers and medical crews were dispatched about 12:30 a.m. the night of the attack to The Suites, a long-term hotel on 4855 Boulder Highway, police said. She and her husband reported the attack to staff at the complex’s office.

Days later, when detectives tried conducting a follow-up interview on several occasions, Ralston was unconscious and intubated at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center where her condition worsened. She died on July 14.

Detectives questioned Duwarte on two occasions at the detention center where he’d been booked in November and February on cases unrelated to the slaying, police said. He’d said that he was aware of the incident but maintained his innocence.

That’s not what he told three people on separate occasions that he’d beat an older woman to death, saying things such as, he’d “beat a b---- into a coma and she died,” police said. Detectives also connected him to the area of the crime scene through his cellphone.

In the warrant, police wrote that some of the knowledge from the incident related to one of the people Duwarte allegedly confessed to killing a woman, could have only come from the perpetrator.