Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Police: Argument over prescription pills ends with fatal stabbing

A couple’s ongoing argument over prescription pills led a man to fatally stab his girlfriend and then try to kill himself, according to a Metro Police arrest report.

John Vannucci, 62, told detectives, “I lost my mind. She was evil,” according to the report. He was booked on a count of murder.

Metro went to a house in the 1900 block of Cameron, near Decatur and Oakey boulevards, about 8:40 p.m. Friday after a neighbor reported that she couldn’t get in touch with the victim, who was her friend, according to police.

Officers found Vannucci in the house with the woman, who had been stabbed several times and wrapped in a comforter in the dining room, police said.

Vannucci told detectives he and his girlfriend, Julie Ray, had been fighting because she stole 120 of his prescription pain killers, which would make her “crazy,” the report said.

“Vannucci was unable to give a timeline, but stated there was an argument and he was tired of Ray talking down to him and complaining,” an officer wrote. That’s when, according to Vannucci, he “lost his mind” and grabbed two knives, stabbing Ray to death, police said.

After the attack, Vannucci took “a lot of his medication pills” because “he wanted to die, too, because he had hurt somebody,” he told detectives, according to the report.

Vannucci was taken to University Medical Center and subsequently booked at the Clark County Detention Center, police said. He was being held on a $250,000 bail.

He’s next scheduled to appear in court April 3, jail logs show.