Suspect in slaying caught trying to get rid of blood-stained clothing

Police confiscated clothing from a man jailed on charges of killing a woman found in his town house after he was caught trying to get rid of the potential evidence hours following his arrest last week.

Ronald Collins, 30, took off his apparently blood-stained shirt in a Clark County jail holding cell, started tearing it into small strips and tried to flush them down the toilet, according to a Metro Police arrest report.

Police had called a crime scene officer to come to the jail to photograph Collins' injuries and clothing. But once a detective saw Collins ripping his shirt, the clothes were taken from Collins, and he was given jail garb to wear, according to the report.

A naked 37-year-old woman was found wrapped in a plastic sheet in a pool of blood on the floor of Collins' kitchen. She has been identified by police and Clark County coroner's office officials, but her name hasn't been released because her family has not been located.

But Lt. Wayne Petersen has said the woman had several prostitution arrests in the past 18 months, mostly in the downtown area. She died from several stab wounds to the neck.

While the woman's body was found in the house, according to the arrest report, blood and knives were found in Collins' truck.

"A 1993 Ford Ranger was located parked in front of the residence. Upon looking inside the vehicle, detectives at the scene observed the driver's seat to be soaked in blood and two hunting knives on the driver's floorboard," according to the report.

Officers were first called to Collins' town house in the 4000 block of Castle Cove Drive shortly after 5 a.m. Tuesday when Collins' wife, Melanie Collins, called police saying there was a person on the floor in a pool of blood.

Ronald Collins pushed the front door shut when officers came to his house. The officers forced their way inside, and Collins retreated into the attic. Police discovered the dead woman and attempted to talk to Collins.

Collins, who by this time was hiding in an air conditioning duct, refused to talk to police. After four hours, police used tear gas, and the SWAT team apprehended Collins.

Collins suffered minor cuts when SWAT officers pulled him out of the duct. He was treated at University Medical Center and then taken to jail, according to the arrest report.

The events that ended with a dead woman on the floor of a town house in a quiet development started last Monday about 8 p.m., when Collins apparently came home drunk.

His wife, who told police she feared for her safety because of previous domestic arguments, left with her son to spend the night at her mother's house.

Collins' wife returned to her house about 5 a.m. Tuesday believing her husband "maybe had slept it off," but instead she found her husband and a dead woman, Petersen has said.

Officers have gone to Collins' home a couple of times on domestic disturbance calls, with the last one on Dec. 22 at 6:25 p.m. On that occasion, the officer gave a verbal warning while at the house, according Metro records officials.

Collins, a registered felon on an attempted grand larceny auto conviction, was held without bond this morning in the Clark County jail on murder charges.

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