Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - Stalking in Las Vegas

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

A prominent local political figure here in Las Vegas was stalked by a Metro Police Officer in 2023, and we share another missing person case from LVMPD's missing cold case list at https://sinspod.co/metromissing This case highlights how the abuse of power can add to the terror experienced by a stalking victim, even someone well-known and in the public eye. It happens to people in all walks of life.https://sinspod.co/108https://sinspod.co/108transcripthttps://sinspod.co/108bloghttps://sinspod.co/108subhttps://sinspod.co/jhallbloghttps://sinspod.co/108jhallsubBecome 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.com 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. When people think about stalking, they usually picture an anonymous stranger in a dark hoodie, someone lurking in the shadows, someone you don't know. But what happens when the person doing the stalking is a police officer? And the person being stalked is a city attorney whose father is the Clark County DA. This week we're talking about a stalking case that unfolded right here in Las Vegas, one that involved law enforcement, access to police databases,

and a breakup that didn't just turn ugly but terrifying. What makes this case so important is not just who was involved, but what it shows us about the real dangers of stalking, how power and access can be weaponized and how often warning signs are minimized until someone gets hurt or worse. 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.

January is stalking awareness month. And this week we want to focus on this problem that affects one in three women and one in six men. When we talk about stalking, it's important to understand what that means legally. It's not one creepy message or passing by someone's work one time. stalking is defined as a willful, malicious pattern of behavior, so two or more acts, directed at a specific person that would make a reasonable person feel terrified, intimidated, or afraid for their safety. Nationally, about 13.5 million people are stalked every single year. Here in Nevada, a stalking protection order is granted roughly every four and a half hours. That's how often someone is reaching a breaking point and asking for the court's help. Nearly three out of four victims know the person stalking them personally, and in 40% of cases, it's a current or former intimate partner. And as we've mentioned on the show before, that's when things get especially dangerous.

Research shows that stalking by an intimate partner is one of the strongest warning signs for lethality. More than three quarters of female DV murder victims were stalked by that partner in the year before they were killed. Stocking keeps changing with technology as well. There is still physical surveillance, of course, with stalkers waiting outside workplaces or following their victims. But now, with all the types of digital monitoring, such as stalker wear-on phones, constant unwanted contact through social media, GPS tracking, stalkers are using all kinds of technology and control to terrorize someone long after a relationship ends. The impact on victims is enormous. Many experience severe anxiety and depression, and more than half lose at least five days of work because of the stress, the court process,

or the safety changes they're forced to make just to survive. That is part of why Nevada updated its laws in the last legislative session. The Safe Streets and Neighborhoods Act of 2006 explicitly recognizes digital harassment as evidence of stalking and it expanded protections to include dating partners who don't live together, which closed a gap that left a lot of victims unprotected. This week, we have the story of a prominent Las Vegas woman who was stalked by a police officer. Rebecca Wolfson was stalked by her ex-fiancee Christopher Young, who also happened to be a Metro police officer. And if you recognize that last name, Wolfson, from any of our previous episodes, you're right.

Rebecca is the daughter of Clark County DA, Steve Wolfson. This is a story of why stalking is never just harassment, especially when the person doing it knows exactly how the system works. But before we get to that, we want to share with you another story of a missing person from Metro's missing cold case database. This week, we heard from the mother of one of the missing people we covered earlier this season, and that conversation really drove home how important it is for us that we keep covering these stories. So, do you want to get us started with the story we're sharing this week? Absolutely. This week, we're talking about Jonathan Hall. Next month will be the seventh year anniversary of his disappearance, as well as his 37th birthday.

On Wednesday, February 13, 2019, then 30-year-old Jonathan Hall. Hall vanished in Las Vegas after a typical day of work, just days after his 30th birthday on February 9th. Growing up, Jonathan lived in Mississippi with his mom, Anna Ashbury. In 2012, he moved away from the rural south to Las Vegas to live with his father, Stephen Hall. In 2019, Jonathan was working two jobs, a maintenance position with his dad, as well as at the Las Vegas Q Club, located in the Commercial Center Shopping Plaza on Sahara, near

Maryland Parkway just about a mile away from the Las Vegas strip. The pool hall has been open since 1964 and it's considered a legendary place to play pool. Jonathan loved playing pool and working at the Q Club gave him a chance to work on improving his skills in the game. On the day he went missing, his father dropped him off at home after their maintenance shift, after which Jonathan headed to his evening job at the billiards club. He was last seen at the club around 7.30 p.m. According to reports, his coworkers remember seeing him at the Q Club that evening, but no one recall seeing him leave or when he went home. The following day was February 14th, Valentine's Day,

and his dad, Steve, started getting worried when Jonathan didn't show up for work. After 24 hours had passed with no contact, he was very concerned. Jonathan also kept in very frequent contact with his mom, Anna. The two of them spoke nearly every day despite the distance between them, and she noticed the sudden and uncharacteristic silence from her son. Jonathan didn't own a car. He relied on a moped and a scooter to get around. Both were found at his home, so it seems like he made it back to his place after he left work that night. The only things of note missing from his apartment were his backpack and its contents. His sister Amber told News Channel 3 that he would not purposely walk away without saying, I'm going away. Don't be worried if you don't hear from me. But since that night, there have been no activity on his bank accounts, his social media, or his phone. His mother, Anna noted that she sent something was wrong during a 59-minute phone call just days before his disappearance, though Jonathan didn't disclose any specific troubles at that time.

Anna agrees with Amber that Jonathan would never simply walk away from them like that and just drop out of contact. Soon after he disappeared, Las Vegas Metro classified him as a missing person and pushed out a public alert to help generate leads. His case was then entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Person System, Namus, and on the Charlie Project, where he is classified as endangered missing. His family members have provided DNA in case there could be an opportunity for identification one day. But as of today, Jonathan is still missing.

His sister Amber has said the emotional toll she's experienced is a, quote, deep, deep pain, and I don't think there is really any help for it. Jonathan was well loved and not only by his family, but by his friends as well. Rotsie Plitz, a friend and coworker, shared with the local news how much he's still missed at the Q Club. She said, I do still put a Christmas stocking out for him every year here, and I'm always looking that he's around somewhere. And his friend Lacey told the press, John's not just a number. He's not just a case number. He has a name. And I think everyone deserves answers in this case. His mother Anna is tortured by his disappearance and misses him every day. Reflecting on the lack of

progress, she stated, I live every day like a freaking nightmare because there's no closure. She has frequently told the press that she will not give up on finding Jonathan until the day she dies. Jonathan Hall will be 37 years old on February 9th, 2026. Jonathan is a white male, 5 foot 5, and weighs about 130 pounds. He has dark blonde hair or strawberry blonde with eyes described as green or hazel, and he sometimes goes by John or Johnny. He was last seen wearing a black hooded coat, blue cargo pants, and brown hiking boots. One source describes Jonathan as having gauged ears. In most of the photos I've seen of him, he has some style of facial hair, often a goatee. In one photo where he's more clean

shaven, he appears to have a librette piercing. These distinguishing features are not mentioned in his name as profile. You can easily find that profile at sinspod.com slash j. Hall. Anyone with information regarding Jonathan's whereabouts or the events of February 13, 2019, is urged to contact the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at 702-8-28-3-1-1-1. You can also reach the missing person detailed directly at 702-8-2-2-28-2-n-n-n-n-n. You can visit the family's Facebook group at Where is Jonathan Hall? Note that Jonathan is spelled J-O-H-N-T-A-N. This is a reminder to follow us on Instagram and Facebook so you can see.

and share all the photos of Jonathan and help his family and friends raise awareness. We're going to pause here for a quick break, but we'll be right back with this week's stalking case. Next up is the high-profile stalking case Sean mentioned earlier. You've heard us mention Clark County, DA, Steve Wolfson, and a lot of the cases that we've covered. He and his staff generally prosecute the cases that we cover here. He has a daughter named Rebecca Wolfson, who was an attorney for the city of Las Vegas in

2003 and who was also a judicial candidate. She was dating, actually engaged to a Las Vegas Metro police officer named Christopher Young. According to an email received from Metro, Young has been with the police force since 2016. He is the son of William Bill Young, who is a former Clark County Sheriff. Wolfson and Young broke off their engagement in July of 2003, and according to a police report, Chris Young did not take it well. In that same document, it said that Young's behavior made Rebecca feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, harassed, and fearful for her immediate safety. In the months following the breakup, he drove by her house often and showed up in places where she was also.

On August 19, 2003, Rebecca had a guest over, and the next morning she got a call from Young. He asked to get his firearm back. It wasn't clear to me why the firearm was still in her house. He said, I can't have random people having access to it. So that tipped Rebecca off that he must have been driving by the house and seen her guest's car. In court documents, it's explained that he drove by the house and wrote down the license plate in his notes app on his phone. On August 21, Young accessed police databases to do a record check on the registration of that car and assigned himself to a call for service related to his job duties.

The next day, Rebecca agreed to meet with Young at the police database. to turn over the gun, as he requested, and she recorded the conversation. And in that conversation, Young repeatedly asked about the car in front of her house. And that was obviously the reason that he texted her on the 19th. So then in October of that same year, he was doing another one of his drive-bys, and he saw another car outside of her house, but this time he didn't just run their plates. He stopped, circled around the car, and then threw rocks at it, shattering the passenger window, denting the door, and doing nearly $5,000 damage.

Rebecca's friend found two large rocks inside the car and another lying next to it. As a police officer, you'd think he might know that there are a lot of ways to track down crimes like this, but it seems like he wasn't really thinking straight. Being a city attorney, Rebecca called the police right away, and they were able to find some pretty damning evidence while they were investigating. One of the things she was able to tell them is that at the time of the crime, she could tell that a device had joined her home Wi-Fi that had previously had the password. Also, someone who matched Young's description was seen on a neighbor's ring camera surveillance footage,

so the police interviewed him the next day. Initially, as you might expect, Young didn't really want to talk to the police, but he did ask them about the severity of the crimes they were investigating, which is pretty telling. They told him that they had a search warrant for his cellular devices and his shoes. The thing about the shoes seemed weird to me, but in the surveillance video they had, the shoes could clearly be seen and identified. He turned them over and they were a match. They also matched the clothing he was wearing with that in the surveillance video. His cellular devices included his phone, of course, but also his Apple Watch.

From analyzing his phone, they were able to determine that it was his phone that joined the Wi-Fi. Again, just as the crime was being committed after midnight, which placed. him at her home. From his watch and his health app, they could tell that at the time of the crime, his heart rate was over 171 beats per minute, but they could also see that his normal resting heart rate was about 80 beats per minute. In December, Young was arrested and charged with a gross misdemeanor for tampering with a vehicle, that's the vandalism, and misdemeanor stalking. He was suspended without pay from LVMPD immediately, and he first appeared in court in December, but he was released on his own recognizance, which means he didn't have to pay bail,

and he was told to stay away from Rebecca and was to be tracked with high-level electronic monitoring. And just to note that it was prosecuted by the state because, obviously, there was a conflict of interest because Rebecca Wolfson is Steve Wolfson's daughter. In March, he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor stalking charge. He was given a 90-day suspended sentence, no time in jail, and the conditions of his release included, agreeing to stay out of trouble, complying with district court probation for a year, mental health and substance abuse counseling, writing a formal letter of apology to Rebecca,

paying restitution, and he was also given house arrest. As for the gross misdemeanor of injuring or tampering with a vehicle, that went on to Clark County District Court, according to the transcripts, and it's not really clear based on the reporting where that ended up. He was supposed to be back in court around March 10, 2025. Not sure if the restitution covered the damage there, but if we find out, we will update. I have some questions for you.

Do you think that result was fair, given the crimes against Rebecca? You might think that I think that's a very light sentence. But I think in this case, it's kind of an appropriate sentence. He didn't strangle her. There's no allegations of domestic abuse or anything like that. I think it's actually an appropriate sentence in this case. Do you know if he got his job back? I didn't read anything about him being released from the police force.

Okay. As far as I know, he's still with him. And just so I understand, that punishment you were describing, the agreeing to stay out of trouble, the counseling, writing the letter to Rebecca, etc. That was all just related to the misdemeanor stalking charge. It's separate from what happened with the car. He's being charged in the district court for that. Yes, and there are no records about that following up on what he has been charged with or. But I assume that would just be proper.

damage that will be, you know, he'll have to pay restitution or something like that. To the person whose car, he actually wrecked. It wasn't actually, it wasn't Rebecca's car. So I feel like we just gave the listeners a little sample of what we talk about on Swing Shift. We did. So if you want to hear more of the conversations we have about the episodes, make sure you're subscribed at sinspod.com slash subscribe. Next week, we're going to revisit a very important stalking episode and recognition of the National Day of Action for Stocking Awareness which is this coming Sunday, January 18th. That day commemorates the murder of Peggy Clinky by her stalker in 2003,

championed by her sister, anti-stalking activist Debbie Riddle. In her honor, we are going to reshare that episode. In that episode, we also cover the story of Miley Cyrus' stalker, which is a story you have to hear to believe. As we said, stalking affects one in three women, and as these episodes show, these are women from all different walks of life and income brackets. To participate in the National Day of Action for Stocking Awareness on January 18th, be sure to

wear something sparkly or shiny and post a photo on social media with hashtags like Sparkle Against Stocking and NSAM Day of Action to show solidarity and bring back the Sparkle lost by victims. Be sure to tag us as well so we can see the photos. Be sure to follow the Stocking Prevention Awareness and Resource Center, Spark, at Follow Us Legally, or visit their website for more resources and important information to help spread awareness about stalking. Thank you, as always for listening, and please be sure to leave us a review on whatever platform you're listening on to help us grow the show.

Until next week, remember what happens here, happens everywhere. Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod.co-sla-subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad-free. 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 researched 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, sins and survivors.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.