LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Two killings in a Las Vegas home near Wetlands Park were caught on a surveillance camera inside, according to an arrest report obtained by 8 News Now.
On Wednesday, June 5 at around 9:40 p.m., a man called 911 to report that there were two bodies found in his neighbor’s house in the 4900 block of Droubay Drive near Wetlands Park.
Arriving officers found two people, later identified as Melinda Smith and Ronald Racine, on the floor in the upstairs master bedroom. Officers saw what appeared to be gunshot wounds on the back of the victims’ heads, the report stated.
The neighbor who called 911 told police that the homeowner of the house where the killings took place left town on June 1 to work out of the state for the summer. The homeowner was renting his home to Melinda, Ronald, and a third man who was not named, according to the report.
The unnamed renter called the neighbor to ask him to help check on Ronald and Melinda as he had not heard from them in a few days, but could hear Ronald’s dog barking from inside Ronald’s bedroom.
At around 3 p.m. on June 5, the two, joined by a friend, opened the door to Ronald’s room and discovered Ronald and Melinda’s bodies. After discussing what they should do, the unnamed renter packed a few bags from his room and the group left. The neighbor went back home and for an unknown reason did not call 911 until almost 10 p.m.
Detectives found a surveillance camera on top of a dresser in the bedroom where the bodies were found facing toward the entrance of the room. Video showed two people, later identified as Dianelys Fernandez, 33 and Guillermo Ramirez Lastre, 54, enter the room at around 2 a.m. the day before the bodies were found.
In the video, Fernandez and Ramirez Lastre argued with Ronald about a vehicle and money the suspects owed to Ronald. Around 15 minutes after Fernandez and Ramirez Lastre entered the room, Ramirez Lastre took out a gun and shot Ronald in the back of the head.
As Ramirez Lastre and Fernandez began to leave the room, Melinda entered the room from her bedroom, at which point Ramirez Lastre told her Ronald shot himself, according to the report. The surveillance video clip then ends.
The next video clip on the camera that police found was from 17 seconds later, and showed Ramirez Lastre still armed with the gun, but Melinda can no longer be seen. The area where her body was found was just off camera, but was in the same spot where Melinda was last seen on the video, the report stated.
Ramirez Lastre and Fernandez then left the room. No one else enters the room until the unnamed renter and neighbor walk in the following day.
Using Ronald’s cell phone records, police were able to identify Ramirez Lastre. According to messages between the two, Ramirez Lastre owed Ronald $4,500 for a vehicle and he was visiting the victim the night of the homicides to allegedly pay his debt.
While police were searching Ramirez Lastre’s home, Fernandez was also present and police identified her as the second person on the surveillance video. Police took the two into custody on June 11.
When police interviewed Fernandez, she told police she stayed in the car while Ramirez Lastre went inside the home. When confronted with the surveillance video, she changed her story and told police that while inside the bedroom, she heard a loud gunshot and saw Ronald fall to the ground.
She told police she believed Ronald fainted and said she did not see any blood or see Ramirez Lastre with a gun, the report stated.
Ramirez Lastre told police that he was never armed while in the house, despite being shown surveillance video which showed a person he identified as himself holding a gun, the report stated. Ramirez Lastre also had bleached and cut his hair, which police noted was consistent with someone attempting to change their appearance after a crime.
Both Ramirez Lastre and Fernandez were charged with two counts of open murder with the use of a deadly weapon, robber with the use of a deadly weapon, and conspiracy to commit robbery.
Both are being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail. Their next court appearance is scheduled for June 17.
