Sheriff quiet about 5 slain in northern Nevada
Jeremiah Bean, a 25-year-old person of interest, has been arrested after five people were found dead in one morning in northern Nevada. Bean was arrested April 13 on suspicion of burglary after he was found with items from one of the crime scenes. (AP Photo/Lyon County Sheriff's Office)
RENO, Nev. » Law enforcement officials are saying little about the bizarre string events that led to a killing spree in northern Nevada that left five people dead.
Authorities are searching for additional suspects that could be tied to the homicides they believe are connected — four at two homes in the rural town of Fernley and a fifth about 30 miles west at the Interstate 80 exit for the Mustang Ranch near Reno where one of the victim’s stolen vehicle was found.
Police arrested Jeremiah Bean, 25, of Fernley, on burglary charges and identified him as a "person of interest" in the string of homicides after he was found in possession of property stolen from one of the Fernley victims.
Investigators said Robert Pape and Dorothy Pape, both 84, were found dead early Monday in a house in Fernley, a city of 19,000. Angie Duff, 67, and another man were found dead in a home a half-block away.
Lyon County Sheriff Allen Veil has refused to release details of the killings — or even a general timeline of when they occurred, citing the need to keep any other potential suspects in the dark while police investigate.
"Depending on how long these victims have been dead, that could definitely change how a suspect could answer questions during an interview if we gave out information that only the suspect would know," Veil said.
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He described the attacks as "absolutely shocking to us."
"It is senseless. The people we have talked to, they don’t know whether to be paranoid, scared to death, shocked, angry," Veil told reporters Tuesday at a news conference.
Bean was arrested Monday and was being held at the Lyon County jail on $50,000 bail. He has a local arrest record and a felony conviction related to burglary and attempted grand larceny, deputies said. He has also acknowledged gang ties.
"He had some evidence that came from one of the residences where we had two victims," Veil said. "He was in one of those residences where there were two deceased individuals and had some of their property when he was arrested."
Associated Press writer Michelle Rindels contributed to this report from Las Vegas.
