Psychological scars hardest to overcome for showgirls after Las Vegas Strip attack

Although Victoria Cayetano had only been working as a showgirl on the Las Vegas Strip for a short time, she loved her job.

Showgirls interact with visitors, taking pictures with them for a fee and tips, giving them a Las Vegas memory to take home.

When Cayetano and three of her colleagues were experiencing a “slow day” earlier this month, they gathered outside a resort to talk about nothing in particular — work, how the rest of their day was going and so on.

That’s when a man approached and asked to take a picture with Maris DiGiovanni, who was Cayetano’s partner for the day ­— the girls always worked in pairs. He told them he was a chef, and wanted to pose holding his knife, Cayetano said.

He pulled out the knife, and Cayetano said she began backing away. That’s when the unthinkable began.

“He just grabbed the knife and attacked Maris, and that’s when I turned around and started running — terrified that he was actually using the knife on us,” Cayetano said. “After he attacked Maris and I turned around, I knew he was coming for me.”

Cayetano was one of eight victims in a mass stabbing on the Strip the morning of Oct. 6. Metro Police say Yoni Barrios, 32, attacked the women dressed as showgirls because he thought they were laughing at him, and continued running down the sidewalk and stabbing other people as a way of “letting the anger out.”

Six people were wounded and two died — the 30-year-old DiGiovanni and 47-year-old Las Vegas resident Brent Hallet — before Barrios was taken into custody.

One of the showgirls wounded in the attack, Anna Westby, suffered a collapsed lung and was stabbed a quarter inch from her spinal cord, according to her colleague Cheryl Lowthorp, who runs the Best Showgirls in Vegas agency.

Doctors were concerned Westby would not be able to walk again, Lowthorp said, but she recently took her first couple of steps since the attack and is expected to make a full recovery.

Cayetano was running from the suspect when he stabbed her, so that the force of it knocked her over and propelled her body forward. The motion prevented penetrative injury to her back and potentially saved her life, Lowthorp said, though Cayetano was wounded underneath her shoulder blade.

Cayetano said she still could hardly move her right shoulder.

“I struggle to put on clothes and be able to do what I regularly do, and I think not being able to do that really mentally frustrates me,” she said. “So, I am having a few breakdowns, with not being able to do a lot of things.”

Her struggles go beyond her injuries, Cayetano said, noting that she now needs someone with her when she has to go outside at night, and she finds herself remembering everything that happened when she’s alone, and it “takes a toll.”

“I don’t really know how to deal with the trauma,” she said.

Cayetano’s not alone, said Lowthorp, who has spearheaded an effort to raise money for covering legal, medical and other costs that have come about in the wake of the stabbing.

The Las Vegas community has been supportive, Lowthorp said, but the approximate $20,000 that has been raised can do little to calm the fears of many women who pay their bills by working as showgirls on the Strip.

Many of those women are now looking for other jobs, Lowthorp said, and she wants to raise money that will help equip them in that effort.

She cited the fourth showgirl present during the attack on the Strip, Selina — whose last name was withheld for privacy reasons — as an example.

“Selina, who was not actually injured … she’ll never step foot on the Strip again,” Lowthorp said. “And there’s a lot of psychological damage that cannot be wiped away with money.”

Clark County emphasized its commitment to the safety of tourists, employees and residents on the Strip in a statement Oct. 7, saying that people could expect an increased police presence in the aftermath of the mass stabbing.

“The Las Vegas Strip continues to be a safe place to visit and work, and we will be working with our partners to ensure the right resources are available to ensure the corridor remains safe,” the statement reads.

Women who pose as showgirls on the Strip have a unique job, Lowthorp said. Most work for themselves, with complete autonomy, and get to decide when and where they go to work.

They have provided for each other to create a special environment, she said, unlike so many jobs where people may not have fun or feel like they are part of a family.

“That’s the opposite of the situation here,” she said. “And so, it’s a really tragic loss for all of us.”