Courtesy photo
Dorothy Sargent, shown in a photo provided by her son, Keith, was killed at her Las Vegas residence in 2005. Her homicide went cold for years until a detective this year requested a retest of DNA recovered at the scene.
Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018 | 7:01 p.m.
A suspect wanted in the 2005 slaying of an 84-year-old woman in her central Las Vegas valley home also has died, according to the victim’s family.
Dorothy Sargent’s death this summer picked up a crucial lead when investigators identified Dino Marks as a suspect by using new DNA testing. The case had gone cold.
Various media reports publicizing the case proved fruitful, Dorothy’s son, Keith Sargent, wrote in an email. That’s because Marks’ former girlfriend saw one of the reports and contacted police, telling them Marks had died in Las Vegas four years ago.
Marks, who used “Niki Guy” as an alias, had apparently changed his name again, Keith Sargent said. Police, who purportedly checked out and confirmed the tip, were closing the case, they informed Sargent on Friday. Metro Police confirmed the new developments.
Dorothy’s Sargent’s body was found in her house on Isabelle Avenue when officers made entry for a welfare check on Dec. 9, 2005.
The house, where she lived at for more than 40 years and where her son was raised, had been burglarized. The senior citizen, who’d been asphyxiated and sexually assaulted, also had her wrists and ankles bound by yarn.
“I realized that even if we caught the person,” Keith Sargent said when police identified a suspect, “it won’t bring my mom back, and there will be a missing part of my heart that will never come.”
