Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - 2025 End of the Year Updates

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

This week, we're updating you on several cases we covered in 2025, including those involvingThe Prince FamilyNadia IvarsonBrandon DurhamNadia Lopez-GarciaMaria MarinoChristian Walker (who murdered Maureen McConaha)Gwen Story (Sahara Sue doe)Ricky Lee Trader (who murdered Theresa Romano in 2002)Thomas Sanders (who murdered Suellen and Lexis Roberts)There were a lot of developments this year. We'll keep you up to date on the cases we cover, and we truly appreciate you, our listeners!https://sinspod.co/107https://sinspod.co/107sourceshttps://sinspod.co/107transcripthttps://sinspod.co/107blogBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sins-survivors-a-las-vegas-true-crime-podcast--6173686/support.Domestic Violence Resourceshttp://sinspod.co/resourcesClick here to become a member of our Patreon!https://sinspod.co/patreonVisit and join our Patreon now and access our ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content & schwag! Get ad-free access for only $1 a month or ad-free and bonus episodes for $3 a monthApple Podcast Subscriptionshttps://sinspod.co/appleWe're now offering premium membership benefits on Apple Podcast Subscriptions! On your mobile deviceLet us know what you think about the episodehttps://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2248640/open_sms

To listen ad-free, visit sinspod.co slash subscribe. Starting at $2.99 a month, you'll also get access to our exclusive bonus content episodes when you join through Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Thanks for supporting the show. As we close out 2025, we want to take a moment to look back at some of the cases we've covered that have stayed with us. Over the last year, there have been several updates, movement in the courts, and moments that reminded us by telling these stories matter. Some of these updates bring a sense of clarity. Others reopen hard questions, but all of them show that these cases are still very much alive. This episode is about where things stand now, what has changed, and why we continue to follow

these stories long after the headlines move on. Hi, and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, as well as missing persons. and unsolved cases. I'm your host, Sean. And I'm your co-host, John. Welcome to 2026. As we said in the intro, today we have updates to several cases we've covered on the podcast. And before we dive into new content next week, we wanted to bring you some of these important developments and resolutions we have been waiting for. Throughout the year, we kept notes on the ongoing and unresolved cases, and we have nine updates for you, including

one of our most engaged with episodes, The Murder of Ashley and Dennis Prince. Do you want to get started with that one. Yes, we have several updates for you in the case of the murders of Dennis and Ashley Prince. Many of you will remember that attorney Dennis Prince and his wife, Ashley Prince, were shot and killed on April 8th, 2024 by Ashley's ex-father-in-law, Joe Houston. Joe then shot himself. Joe was also an attorney, and the group was gathered at Dennis's law office for a deposition. Ashley and her ex-husband, Dylan Houston, were locked in a custody dispute. over their two young children. Dennis was representing Ashley and Joe was representing Dylan. Dylan's mother, Joe's wife, Catherine, was being deposed at the time of the shooting.

Dennis and Ashley had been married only a short time prior to their murders, and the two had welcomed a new baby together just four months earlier. You can revisit their story at sinspod.com slash prince slashback. This episode actually received special recognition from Spreaker in October of of 2024. We want to note that in July of 2024, Metro announced that Dylan was not a suspect in the homicides. After Ashley was killed, the custody and guardianship of her two children remained unresolved for some time. There had been accusations against Dylan for alcohol misuse and threatening behavior, and given the circumstances of her death, her parents and siblings were challenging who should have custody of the kids. In early 2025, nine months after the

murders, custody of the children was finally resolved, with Ashley's parents sharing custody with Dylan for the first year and having visitation every other weekend starting the following year. Ashley's dad is continuing to act as guardian for the kids. For Dennis and Ashley's child, both sets of their parents share guardianship and custody. This past February, Ashley's parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Joe Houston's estate, his now closed law firm, and Catherine in Houston, alleging in the court documents that she had knowledge that Joe had planned to shoot Ashley during the deposition. Dylan was not named in the lawsuit. In September of 2025, Metro released their final report on the shooting, which confirmed many of the details we had shared

previously, but also the exact transcript of the deposition leading up to the shooting, as well as the contents of a handwritten note that was found in Joe's briefcase. In short, Joe Houston had expressed that he wanted them to stop keeping the kids from Dylan. The report contains statements from witnesses that the custody dispute between Dylan and Ashley was heavily litigated, very emotional, and nasty on both sides. Metro's conclusion was, on April 8th, 2024, Joseph Houston shot and killed Ashley and Dennis Prince, and then shot and killed himself. Through the course of the investigation, it was determined that Joseph acted alone, and no parties involved had any knowledge that Joseph was going to kill Ashley and Dennis Prince.

We will bring you more updates in the coming year if we have them, but like I've said several times, it's my opinion that these attorneys should never have been acting as the attorneys for their loved ones, and the court should have recognized that and corrected it early on. I agree with Ashley's family that the length of time this custody dispute went on just prolonged this family's pain and the conflict. It not only caused the kids to be in a state of limbo, but it also prevented everyone from making peace with the court's decision and trying to move on.

our next update is about the Nadia Iverson case. Before we get into the update, here's a quick refresher on Nadia's case in general in case you haven't listened to it. Nadia Iverson was just 20 years old when she was murdered in Las Vegas in May of 1997. She grew up in Warren County, Pennsylvania. She was confident, spunky, creative, and protective of her friends and family. Her sister Marie described her as someone who marched to her own beat and the kind of person who made friends easily and looked out for others.

Nottie decided to leave Pennsylvania after a breakup and start over in Las Vegas, but for her, things unraveled pretty quickly. Just days after her 20th birthday, her body was found inside a home that was under construction in the city's historic west side. She had been shot in the back of the head at close range, and investigators also found evidence that she had been sexually assaulted. At the same time, police collected a rape kit, but like thousands of others across Nevada at the time, it sat untested for decades in a huge backlog. Even if they had tested it, DNA testing wasn't as common as it is today. They had no suspects, so Nadi's case went cold almost immediately.

Her family was left with no answers and no closure. That changed about 20 years later when Nevada finally began clearing its massive rape kit backlog. When Nadi's kit was tested, it produced a DNA match to a former Las Vegas metro police officer, Arthur Sewell. Sewell had resigned from the Metro Police Department just months before Nadia was killed, after being caught abusing his authority to coerce sex workers while armed and in uniform. He had a documented pattern of sexual violence and power abuse, and his DNA had been collected because of those earlier crimes. When he was confronted years later by cold case detectives, Sewell eventually admitted to

killing Nadia. He claimed he went out seeking sex with her and panicked and his gun discharged. Because the investigators didn't properly read him as Miranda rights, that confession was thrown out at trial. In 2022, 25 years after Nadi was murdered, he accepted a plea deal. He pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter with a deadly weapon and received a sentence of six to 15 years. We talked in the episode about what a miscarriage of justice that was, with him possibly serving only six years for such a horrific crime. In May of 2025, Sewell petitioned for early release from the parole board. Nadia's sister Marie traveled to Nevada to speak on her sister's behalf,

still acting as her voice, but strangely, Sewell refused to show up for the hearing, and his parole was thankfully denied. The whole hearing lasted seven minutes. He will remain incarcerated at Ely State Prison, and he will not be eligible for parole again until October 2007. It was a victory for Nadia's family, but it doesn't change the fact that he'll get out no later than May 4th, 2008 and be free to continue his life. If you haven't listened to the full episode, there's a lot more detail so you can listen at Sinspa.co.com slash 38. The next case we have an update for is the death of Brandon Durham at the hands of a Las Vegas

police officer. It was one of the last cases we shared in 2024. Brandon, a 43-year-old Las Vegas father, was killed on November 12, 2024 after calling 911 to report an active break-in at his home. The intruder was Alejandra Bordeaux, a woman who had allegedly been involved in a relationship with Brandon and who had been removed from his home by police just one day earlier for trespassing. When Las Vegas metro officers entered the house, body camera footage shows Brandon struggling to defend himself from Bordeaux, who was armed with a knife. When Officer Alexander Bookman opened fire and fatally shot Brandon instead of the obvious intruder. Brandon was shot once and fell to the floor.

Bookman then approached him and shot him five more times as he laid on the floor, killing him. Alejandra was arrested and charged with multiple felonies while the officer involved was placed on administrative leave as both internal and criminal investigations began.

Even more upsetting is that Officer Bookman is the same officer who had responded to the 911 call at Brandon's house the day before. Bookman, you'd assume, was familiar with both of them, and had just been to Brandon's house not even 24 hours earlier. You can hear more details at sinspod.co slash 55.

Brandon's family continually called for accountability, stating that he was killed by the very officers he called to protect his family, and we've been waiting for the DA, Steve Wolfson, to make a decision on next steps. They expected charges to be brought against Bookman, since he had shot and killed Brandon 15 seconds after entering the home, shot him once, then approached him and shot him five more times, and especially because he'd been at the house the day before, and had spoken with Brandon and Alejandra for 20 minutes. In April of 2025, the family filed a federal lawsuit, claiming that Brandon's civil rights were violated, and that the officer used excessive force. And we will update

you on that case once we know the outcome. The family is asking for a million dollars in damages, but it's not about the financial gain for them. They're also seeking policy changes, mandatory de-escalation training and stricter consequences and discipline for officers with prior misconduct. Brandon's teen daughter said, to be in that house when it happened, and now finally for the slight chance

we could get the justice my father does deserve, is bringing me a light at the end of the tunnel. In May, the case was sent to a grand jury, but in July, the grand jury determined that there was not enough evidence to charge bookmen with a crime. Cannon Lambert, Durham's family attorney, said, I'm very disappointed by this outcome,

and I'm not able to understand it to be candid. Alejandra's case is set to go to trial in the fall. She's facing multiple felony charges as a result of the assault and break-in. We're also following that case and we'll bring you updates when we have them. Before we get into this next update, we want to take a moment to remind listeners

about the case at the center of this wild story. It spans decades, multiple victims, and an entire family affected by violence. You can go back and listen to that full episode if you haven't at Sinspaad.co slash 75. In May of 2008, Maria Marino, a 52-year-old Las Vegas mom and grandmother was murdered. Her body was found off Lee Canyon Road near Mount Charleston. She had been beaten and strangled with a speaker wire.

It was a horrific crime. At the time she was killed, Marie was living with her elderly dad at the family compound with some of her extended family. There's a lot more detail to that, but you'll have to go back and listen to the full episode to get all of that. For years, the case went nowhere because there was no clear crime scene, no forensic evidence, tying anyone directly to the killing, and there were no immediate arrests, even though Maria had been killed violently and dumped in the mountains, and it was clear she had been killed elsewhere

and dragged there. Eventually, investigators focused on Maria's own family. In 2012, three people were charged, Maria's sister, Dolores Petrosino, her niece, Stephanie Petrosino, and Dolores' then-husband, Richard Panardo. We talked more about how investigators finally got their break in the case, but it had to do with the fact that Dolores' son was serving time in prison for a different crime, and of course, prison calls are always recorded. All three defendants took plea deals instead of going to trial. Delores pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and served about six years. Panardo pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder and conspiracy and was released in 2020. Stephanie Petrizino

pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2013. She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years, plus a deadly weapon enhancement. Unlike the others, Stephanie received the most serious sentence, and for more than a decade, she remained incarcerated. In the second and related case in 2004, Richard Pernardo was killed in Las Vegas during a domestic violence incident involving his then-girlfriend, Julie Bush. She pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter with a deadly weapon and was given a deadly weapon enhancement, she is serving 8 to 20 years with parole eligibility after two years. The second update we have is that we got an update from Joey Marino, Maria's son, and he let us know

that Stephanie was paroled this year in July, and she is back living with his grandfather, Al, in the family compound. We're planning to do a flashback episode on this one sometime this year, and hopefully we'll get to speak with Joey. We can't imagine how it would be knowing that the two surviving people who murdered his mom in 2008 are now walking free. We're going to pause here for a quick break before we continue with our 2025 case updates. We also have an update in one of the very first cases we ever covered. Nadia Lopez Garcia, a 37-year-old mother of three from Mesquite, Texas, was killed during a May 2023 Las Vegas trip after she ended up in a hotel room at the MGM Grand with her ex-partner, Fernando

Gomez. On May 28th, police responded to a call about a suicidal person and found Gomez with self-inflicted wounds and Nadia unresponsive. The coroner later determined Nadia's cause of death was strangulation and that she had been stabbed with a piece of broken glass bottle in her neck after her death. Gomez gave shifting and self-serving explanations that conflicted with the findings saying that Nadia had held broken glass to her neck herself and he was arrested and charged with open murder. In the immediate aftermath, Nadi's children were pulled into the Clark County Child Protective Services System and trapped in a jurisdictional limbo for weeks, unable to return home or even attend their mother's funeral right away, compounding the trauma for the family.

You can hear more details about their whole ordeal at Sinspod.co slash 15. Several times since we covered the case, we've been in contact with one of Nadi's nieces, who traveled to Las Vegas earlier this year for Gomez's trial. She wrote to us, We feel some relief because there's some hope of receiving justice, but we also fear because he hasn't accepted a plea, so he's trying to get out. We hope that after there's a conviction,

we can try to move forward towards healing and a normal life. There's also hurt and confusion because there isn't a handbook on how to prepare to see body camp footage and pictures of the crime scene and a body of a loved one. Nadia's family endured watching the jury selection and court testimony, before Gomez pleaded guilty right before the case went to the jury. He pled to one count of murder. In April, he was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 20 years.

And we hope this sentence brings her family some peace. And we also want to remind you of the resources we have online at sinspod.co slash resources, as her niece reminded me that that's one of the most important things a person needs when they're in a situation like this, including family members who might need therapy and treatment after going through something like this. We also have an update on Christian Walker, who, along with his cousin, Johnny Walker, were convicted of murdering his then-17-year-old girlfriend, Maureen McConaghanaha, in 1997. You can listen to that full case at Sinspod.co slash 37.

We talked a lot about the warning signs of escalating intimate partner violence in that episode, things like escalating jealousy, controlling behavior, threats, and repeated physical abuse. These warning signs were present in their relations. and documented in the court system before she was killed, Christian was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years. He spent more than two decades in Nevada Department of Corrections custody. In April of 2003, Christian Walker died just days after being transferred to high desert state prison at the age of 44. His death was officially ruled natural attributed to hypertensive cardiovascular disease, but the condition of his body raised

serious questions. Medical and autopsy records documented extensive blunt force trauma, injuries to his head, face, torso, and extremities, including cuts, contusions, and black eyes. According to court filings, he had been hospitalized shortly after he was transferred to high desert and then died the following morning. Christian's mother and Netwalker filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Nevada Department of Corrections, alleging that her son was beaten by correctional officers and that his injuries were ignored in the hours before his death. In 2025, Annette Walker was awarded $4.6 million in a wrongful death settlement. The state didn't admit any wrongdoing, but this is the largest wrongful death suit of its type ever paid out in Nevada.

In 2003, there were 42 inmate deaths. In 24, there were 55 inmate deaths. And in 2025, there were 73 inmate deaths. This rising number is getting a lot of scrutiny from the news media, and this really does need to be investigated. I think it's normal to have complex feelings about this, and it's important to remember that two things can be true. Christian Walker was serving time for murder, but that doesn't mean that it's in any way okay for the state to allow the murder of people in their care, and we can feel empathy for Annette who lost her son. We'll talk more about that in the swing shift.

Maureen deserves to be remembered not as a footnote for what happened to Christian, but as a young woman whose life mattered and whose death is a reminder of how dangerous intimate partner violence can be, especially for young people. In the summer of 2024, we brought you the stories of two young women who had been killed in Las Vegas, but whose identities were unknown until recent breakthroughs in DNA technology had given them their names back. When Marie Buffington Story was a 19-year-old from the Cincinnati, Ohio area, disappeared the summer of 1979 while traveling west with two male friends, reportedly hoping to find her biological father in California.

On the night of August 14, 1979, her body was discovered in a dirt lot near, or Sahara in Las Vegas Boulevard. She had been beaten and killed with multiple stab wounds and no identification on her. For more than four decades, she was known only as Sahara Sue Doe, despite fingerprint, sketches, and later DNA entries in Dakotis and Namus, none of which produced a match at the time. In 2022, Las Vegas Metro partnered with Authrum Labs using grant funding, and on November 15, 2023, she was finally identified through forensic genetic genealogy. Gwen's murder remains unsolved and police are seeking information, particularly from the two men

who traveled with her and last reported leaving her in Las Vegas. You can hear more at sinspod.co slash 39. This summer, we received a Facebook comment from an old friend of Gwen's named Tammy. Tammy wrote, she was my friend. We rode the school bus together until 1978. I got my driver's license and a job. Our lives went in different directions and we lost touch. I've thought of her often. I wondered if California agreed with her. I had moved away and lost touch with that part of my life purposefully. Gwen was spontaneous, opinionated, and fun. We smoked weed and laughed at the stupidity of adulthood.

We skipped school and survived everything life threw at us, or so I thought. I'm sorry, Gwen. As we said, Gwen's murder is unsolved. Anyone with information or leads is urged to contact the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Homicide Cold Case section directly at 702-8-2-8-8. 3521, or by email at Homicide at LVMPD.com. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Nevada Crime Stoppers by calling 702-385-55-5-5-5-5 or visiting Crimesoppers of NV.com.

Next up, we have an update on Ricky Lee Trader, who was finally taken into custody in 2024 for the 2003 murder of 28-year-old Teresa Romano. In the episode, we talked a lot about the role of DNA and the new Henderson Cold Case Division formed in 2004 that was instrumental in finally apprehending Trader for Teresa's violent murder. Trader was paroled in 2021 for another murder he committed just after he killed Teresa, and in August, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a plea agreement. He is 48 years old now, and he was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison. That sentence runs concurrent with his earlier conviction, so he'll essentially spend at least another 10-year term in prison with credits served for the time since he got arrested in 2024.

It's unlikely, though, that he'll get paroled in 2035 because the parole board will look at his whole violent history, having murdered two people, so it's more likely he'll be in jail until 2050 when he will be in his late 70s. You can hear that full episode at Sinspot.com slash 70. And the final update we have is tied to something bigger that happened on a national level. Some people may already know this, but at the end of his term as president, Joe Biden commuted the sentences of nearly every person on federal death row. That was 37 death row inmates, all but three, leaving the Mother Emanuel church shooter Dylan Roof, the Tree of Life synagogue shooter Robert Gregory Bowers, and the Boston Marathon bomber Jacques Zarnev, still on federal death row. But among the inmates who had their sentences commuted to life was Thomas Sanders, the confessed murderer of Suellen and Lexus Roberts. Swellyn Roberts and her 12-year-old daughter, Lexus, disappeared in September of 2010 after taking a short road trip from Las Vegas to

Arizona with Sue Ellen's new boyfriend, Thomas Stephen Sanders. When they failed to return, a multi-state search began ending weeks later when Lexus's remains were discovered in rural Louisiana. She'd been brutally murdered. Sanders was eventually arrested and confessed to killing Sue Ellen in the Arizona desert before kidnapping Lexus, driving her across several states and murdering her days later. The case revealed that Sanders had been legally declared dead years earlier and had lived under the radar for more than a decade. He was convicted in federal court of kidnapping resulting in death and sentenced to death.

But now that his sentence has been commuted, Brad Burgett, the district attorney in Catehula Parish, Louisiana, brought Lexis' murder case before a grand jury, and Sanders has been indicted for first-degree murder, and he will again be facing the death penalty, but this time on state charges in Louisiana. There is a chance that the trial will start in 2026, but more likely it'll be 2027. Thomas Sanders is currently 67 years old, and we'll keep you posted. If you haven't listened to Sue Ellen and Lexus's story, you can hear that episode at sinspod.com slash That brings us to the end of what we have for you this week. Who knows what 2026 will bring?

Looking back at last year, we remember that for the families living with loss, justice is ongoing and we'll continue to follow these cases for as long as it takes. If you have any questions or are curious about something we haven't updated about yet, please reach out on social media or email us to ask. We'll do our best to research and get back to you. Thank you for listening this year and thank you for sharing these stories. We'll be back next week, continuing the work. because what happens here, happens everywhere.

Remember to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and threads at Sins and Survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at Questions at Sins and Survivors.com. If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources is available on our website, Sins and Survivors.com. Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research written and produced by your host, Sean and John. The information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording.

If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website, Sinsensensensensurvivors.com. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal professionals for guidance.