Las Vegas man shot man before seeking help to dispose of body: police

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Las Vegas man is accused of shooting a man in his home and recruiting another man to dump his body in an empty lot near the Strip, according to an arrest report.

Loth Rodriguez, 67, of Las Vegas, is charged with open murder, records show.

On April 28 at approximately 9:14 p.m., Metro Police received a report of a body wrapped in a tarp in the 800 block of East Sahara Avenue. When officers arrived, they discovered they found a “decomposed” man, later identified as Robert Rodriguez, wrapped in a silver tarp in a corner of the property, police said.

Attached to one end of the tarp was a black braided rope that ran the length of Robert’s body and was wrapped around Robert’s ankles. The cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head and police said it was a homicide.

On April 29, the LVMPD Homicide Unit received an email stating “Private Drive and 844 Sahara Empty Lot” with the subject line “800 SAHARA Homicide.” The email provided no further information, but a second email said, “Here is a picture” and attached three copies of the same picture showing a tarp wrapped around a body on the ground. Police attempted to contact the sender but received no response, the report said.

Surveillance footage from a nearby store showed a man pushing a flat cart with items and the tarp on it around 5 a.m. on April 21. According to the report, the man was also holding a phone with the flashlight on while throwing away the body wrapped in the tarp.

On May 1, officers spoke to a couple who said they had heard from a woman that her boyfriend, Robert, had been shot in the head by a man well-known in the community who then hired someone to dump the body, they said it in the report.

Officers later witnessed an argument between two unhoused men and conducted a check during which they noticed that one of the men matched the man seen on surveillance footage dumping the body.

Officers took 48-year-old Gennady Zhuravlyon into custody. During an interview, Zhuravlyon told police that he “pushes a lot of carts” and asked, “Where is the body?” He demanded to see the body and claimed there was none on the cart, police said.

When officers showed him photos of the body, he was outraged and complained about being shown the picture. Zhuravlyon never made a statement or denied involvement or knowledge of the murder, the report said.

On May 2, officers learned that Robert and a woman went to a gas station on April 20 to get an “Obama phone.” The woman wanted to go to Loth’s house, but told Robert to stay at the gas station and wait because the two men didn’t get along and had problems in the past.

While the woman was at Loth’s house, Robert became impatient and went to the house to get her. The door was unlocked, Robert went into the house and started arguing with Loth. Loth was reportedly upset that Robert had borrowed a phone that he never returned and was jealous that an unnamed person was “going on the streets” with Robert, the report said.

During the argument, Robert said, “What are you (expletive) going to do about it?” and the men continually insulted and “disrespected” each other.

Loth then shot Robert and threatened the woman not to touch or help Robert as he “struggled to breathe.” Loth told the woman: “Don’t touch him or help him, otherwise you’ll die right next to him,” the report says.

He gave the woman money so she could gamble, and she left by stepping over Robert’s body, the report said.

According to police, Loth had threatened to kill Robert more than once and tried to kill Robert at least one other time.

Loth Rodriguez was arrested at his home on May 3 and police found blood splatters on the walls and carpet. They also found a rope that matched the rope tied around Robert’s ankle.

Loth told police that he fired the round to “scare Rob” and that he didn’t mean to hit him, saying, “It was a mistake, I fired,” according to police.

Loth Rodriguez is scheduled to appear in court in July.