Las Vegas Man Lived With Bodies of Murder Victims for Days

A Las Vegas man has been accused of murdering his grandmother and her boyfriend in their apartment, then living with their bodies for several days before killing a maintenance worker sent to conduct a welfare check, according to a report from local law enforcement.

Spencer McDonald, 30, was arrested on Tuesday following a brief foot chase from officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD). He is alleged to have killed Dina Vail, Andrew Graden and Chris Brassard in a Las Vegas apartment complex.

Concern was first raised when Vail, McDonald's grandmother who he had been living with for two years, failed to show up at a ballet class she was due to teach on Monday evening. Local news station KTNV reported on Thursday that a friend went to pick Vail up, as he usually did, when she didn't answer the door. Initially he was unconcerned, assuming she had gotten a ride from somebody else. However, when Vail didn't turn up at the studio, he contacted one of her family members, who said they had also lost contact with her.

According to the arrest report, McDonald admitted to killing his grandmother a few days earlier by stabbing and bludgeoning her to death in bed. He allegedly then waited for Graden, Vail's boyfriend, to arrive before murdering him as well, then moving his body to the master bedroom and continuing to live in the property.

After welfare concerns were raised by Vail's friend and a family member of hers, maintenance workers entered the property on Tuesday using a master key to conduct a check-up when they saw what they believed was blood on the walls. Brassard, who was one of the maintenance workers, was then allegedly attacked and mortally wounded by McDonald who came out of a spare bedroom. The second maintenance worker managed to escape and reported the incident to police.

Officers then raided the apartment where they found a sword and chef's knife covered in blood, with Brassard bleeding out. Officers then detained McDonald who admitted to killing Vail and Graden, saying he "didn't get around to disposing of the bodies." No motive for the alleged crimes was provided to police.

McDonald is being held at the Clark County Detention Center where he's facing three counts of open murder with a deadly weapon, along with one count of attempted murder with a deadly weapon. He is due to appear in court again on July 3.

Newsweek reached out to the LVMPD for comment via email.

In other Las Vegas crime incidents, a couple was arrested earlier this month after two children were found being kept in a dog kennel, with one on the brink of death, according to a police report. One had "two black eyes that were swollen shut" and was initially unable to get out of the kennel, according to the document.

Last year, a number of dead bodies were recovered from Lake Mead, which is near Las Vegas, after a drought caused the water level to fall.