Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Arrest made in 2 stabbing deaths at Strip hotel

Julius Trotter

Julius Trotter

A man was arrested this morning in California in a double slaying at a Strip hotel room last week, according to Metro Police.

Julius Trotter was taken into custody after a car chase in the Los Angeles area by a task force of Southern Nevada law enforcement officers and FBI agents, police said.

Further details on the arrest or how Trotter was identified were not immediately provided.

Trotter, 31, was identified Wednesday as the suspect in the Circus Circus killings, police said. The task force worked through the night to locate him, police said.

A warrant for his arrest was issued on two counts each of murder and robbery with a deadly weapon, and one count of burglary with a deadly weapon, Las Vegas Justice Court logs show.

Police allege Trotter cased rooms at the hotel early Friday until he stumbled upon a room on the 21st floor where he fatally stabbed Sang Boy Nghia, 38, a tour operator from Vietnam, and an unidentified Vietnamese co-worker of the company.

“It is possible the suspect simply opened the door,” Metro Lt. Ray Spencer said Wednesday.

He ransacked the room, taking a backpack that belonged to one of the victims, police said. He was captured on surveillance video in an elevator, casually tinkering with his cell phone, police said.

The victims were with a tour group from California and failed to show up for a planned trip to the Grand Canyon, police said. Their bodies were discovered by hotel security.

“These two individuals did not deserve what happened to them, and we want to see justice served on a very dangerous man and see him behind bars,” Spencer said.

In Clark County, Trotter previously faced charges of resisting arrest with a deadly weapon and reckless driving from a January 2017 incident, court logs show.

Trotter was sentenced to 19 months to four years in a Nevada prison and five years of probation, but the sentence was suspended, logs show. In May, a bench warrant for his arrest was issued for violating probation, logs show.