Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - The Murder of Jason Williams

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

The sound of an argument carried down the hallway of a central Las Vegas home. It was around two in the afternoon on September 2, 2023, when Juan and his family heard his roommate, 46-year-old Danelle Mask, yell, “I’m going to kill you,” and 59-year-old Jason Williams shout back, “Do it.”Juan knew it was best to take his kids and leave the house immediately. An hour or so later, Jason would be found slumped and bleeding on the porch of that same home, a single stab wound to his chest.https://sinspod.co/92https://sinspod.co/92bloghttps://sinspod.co/92sourceshttps://sinspod.co/92sub (Substack Article)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_smsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sins-survivors-a-las-vegas-true-crime-podcast--6173686/support.

To listen ad-free, visit sinspod.co.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. The sound of an argument carried down the hallway of a central Las Vegas home. It was around two in the afternoon on September 2nd, 2023, when Juan and his family heard his roommate, 46-year-old Danielle Mask yell, I'm going to kill you. And 59-year-old, Jason Williams shout back, do it. Juan knew it was best to take his kids and leave the house immediately. An hour or so later, Jason would be found slumped and bleeding on the porch of that same home

with a single stab wound to his chest. 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. We're coming to the end of season two, and we just wanted to take a minute and thank all of you who have supported us on this journey. Nearly 100 unique episodes, multiple collaborations, and more than 135,000 downloads. And we couldn't have done it without you, so thank you. Yeah, thank you so much for supporting the show. And a special shout out to Marlene from Brooklyn

and all our friends locally and around the world who listen and subscribe. We really do appreciate you all. This week, we have a case to share with you that is not something we've covered on the podcast before. It's the story of a man who endured domestic violence and was murdered by his girlfriend. We've covered the murders of men a few times over the past two years, but several of them were stories of self-defense, and others were men who were killed by someone other than their partners or ex-partners. Today, we're telling the story of Jason Williams, a man whose relationship with Danielle Mask was marked by repeated escalating violence. Despite multiple arrests, protective orders, and obvious red flags, the cycle was never broken. It ended the way it too often

does with one partner dead. Let's start with what we know about the two of them. Jason Williams was 59 years old at the time of his death. He and Danielle had been in a relationship for about three years, sharing a home near Decatur Boulevard and Sahara Avenue with two other roommates. I would describe their relationship as volatile. There were several police records showing repeated domestic violence incidents. Danielle Mask, born November 3rd, 1976, had a long history of domestic battery arrests going back to at least 2010, so several predating her relationship with Jason. Court records show most of those cases were dismissed or declined to be prosecuted by the Clark County District Attorney. By 2023, she had at least eight domestic battery arrests

on her record. The history between Jason and Danielle in the months immediately before his murder was particularly disturbing. On February 23, 23, she was charged with attempted murder and domestic battery with a deadly weapon for stabbing Jason. Later in May, there was another domestic battery charge, and in July, another stabbing. This time she stabbed Jason in the arm and in his face during an argument. Jason called 911 during that July attack, shouting, put the knife down, while Danielle cursed and yelled threats in the background. He locked himself in a bedroom, but kicked down the door. When police arrived, Jason identified her as his attacker. She had barricaded herself in the home and was arrested after a standoff. When Jason was interviewed, he said

the fight happened because Danielle had been crying about her DUI arrest and losing her driver's license, and he told her to stop crying. He said that Danielle grabbed a knife, and that's when he ran into the bedroom, barricaded himself inside and called 911. When the officers asked him if Danielle had stabbed him, he refused to answer any more questions. Unfortunately, none of these incidents led to Danielle going to jail or to domestic violence batterer classes. Jason did not appear for the preliminary hearing on August 14, 2023, so the case was just dropped. However, he did have a protective order in place that required Danielle to stay away from him, but she violated that order repeatedly. We've touched on cases in the past where

protective orders don't change the behavior of the abuser. Danielle and Jason continue to to live together despite the order and her extreme violence. So, just to recap, in the five months leading up to September 23, Daniel stabbed Jason on two separate occasions and held scissors to his face in another incident. It was later noted by the police that both had been arrested during past arguments, but in each of the three most recent violent incidents, Jason was the victim. On September 2nd, 2023, the two of them had an argument that morning that was reportedly about a text message Jason had seen on Danielle's phone. One of their roommates, who was home with his children, heard Danielle yell, Mother F her, I'm going to kill you. And Jason yelled back,

do it, bitch. Their roommate knew that the two of them had a very strained and violent relationship, so he quickly gathered up his family and left the house. At some point in the heat of the argument, Danielle said she grabbed her phone and stormed out. She claimed that she later realized she had accidentally taken Jason's phone with her. The two phones were the same brand, Herge just had a slightly different case. She said she returned to the house about an hour later to find Jason unconscious in a chair on the porch. She called 911 but didn't identify herself. When the officers arrived, Jason was still alive, but gravely injured with a stab wound to his chest.

He was taken to UMC, where he was pronounced dead. Initially, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Lieutenant Josh Houchin told reporters that Jason's wound seemed possibly self-inflicted. But investigators quickly found signs that the scene was suspicious. There was blood in Jason's bedroom and blood on Danielle's left hand, which was particularly damning because she's left-handed. Danielle was detained for questioning since she was clearly in violation of the protective order. When the police interviewed her, she claimed Jason might have wanted to die by suicide and said that they would get into fights when either of them had been drinking or whenever alcohol was involved. She claimed that her DUI arrest had been the

source of one of their biggest fights. When police asked her why Jason had a knife in his chest, she told them, charge me, and that she had said all she was going to say soon after she was placed under arrest. It's not really clear why the officer said that to her about Jason and the knife, because reports state that the murder weapon was never recovered, which was another reason why the investigators did not believe Jason had died by suicide. As part of the investigation, their roommate provided video from a security camera at the front of the house, which showed Danielle leaving with a knife shortly after the roommate left with his family. She was saying something to the effect of, I am not the one, possibly meaning I am not the one to be messed with.

On November 30th, 2003, in light of the evidence, a grand jury indicted Danielle on one count of open murder with a deadly weapon, and she was held without bail. Before we get to the court case, I want to talk a little bit about what an absolute parade of red flags was happening here and how we have another story of the system failing to intervene when the signs were all there. Let's start with one that seemed quite obvious to me. We've talked on this show before about the lethality assessment tool, which is a series of evidence-based questions used by law enforcement and advocate to determine the likelihood that someone could be killed by their partner.

It shouldn't be a surprise that Jason's story checks multiple high-risk boxes, previous use of a weapon against the victim, prior threats to kill, escalating violence over time, ignoring protective orders. I don't know if law enforcement referred Jason to domestic violence advocates or if they used the danger assessment with him, but Jason absolutely would have scored extremely high. That should have triggered urgent safety planning and intervention, but instead these cases kept getting dismissed and the cycle continued. His order of protection against Danielle was basically useless. One important reminder, domestic violence hotlines are for everyone.

Men can call, trans and envy folks can as well. Advocates can help victims regardless of gender, find housing if you're in lethal danger, or at least go through the safety planning steps with you. Remember, their job is to discuss your safety and your options. They're not there to tell you what to do or force you into anything. One thing we don't do in the show is victim blaming. Jason may have let her move back in, but maybe she was on the lease, or maybe both of them didn't have any other place to go. That's something we hear a lot in domestic violence cases.

People wonder, why didn't they just leave? But as we've talked about many times on the show, it's not always that simple. It's nearly impossible to leave when the abuse is emotional, financial, or when the system doesn't step in soon enough. What we do want to say is that there are shelters that do shelter men. Approximately 87% of the domestic violence shelters in the United States do. Advocates at the national hotline or local resources should guide you to programs that serve men, even if their organizations don't. Also, just a reminder that you don't have to be ready to go into a shelter in order to reach out for more information.

There have been studies that show that when the victim is a man, he's even less likely to be believed or supported, and he may experience some stigma in asking for help. But domestic violence against men, as well as sexual assault and stalking, does happen. studies show that about one in seven men in the United States have experienced severe physical violence from an intimate partner and more than one and four have experienced some form of partner abuse in their lifetime. I also want to mention that the rates for men who identify as gay and the rates for men who identify straight is the same about one in four, but the numbers for men

who identify as buy can be as high as 37%. So this isn't just a question of men being perpetrators, women are perpetrators as well, and when there's so much stigma, it can be hard to know how much goes unreported. Nationally, when we talk about domestic violence homicides, women are still the most frequent victims. In 2021, about 34% of murdered women who are killed by a current or former intimate partner. For men, that number is about 6%. So the gap is huge, but 6% of male homicide victims is still more than 1,000 men each year. Here in Nevada, the stats are just as disturbing. According to the Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence,

about one in five domestic violence homicide victims in our state are men. So Jason's not an anomaly. He's part of a much bigger and largely invisible pattern. Research shows that when men are killed by their female partners, it's often after a history of violence and sometimes it's an act of self-defense. The evidence here doesn't sound like a story of self-defense, though, and Danielle's criminal history indicates that she was the aggressor, although both had been arrested in the past. Leading up to Daniel's trial, the prosecution filed a motion so they could introduce evidence of prior bad acts.

We've talked about that before on the show. The prior bad acts need to be relevant, and they need to be more probative than prejudicial in order to be brought up at trial. The facts of the July stabbing were so similar to the circumstances that led up to Jason's murder that the prosecutors wanted to be able to bring that up during. the trial. In both instances, the pair argued, and Danielle escalated the fight by grabbing a knife and threatening Jason. The prosecution argued that they should be able to bring up that incident. The prosecution also tried to limit expert testimony regarding Danielle's defense. Danielle's attorneys enlisted the help of an expert in the topic of battered women's syndrome, which it appears that her attorneys plan to raise as a defense. Battered women's syndrome, or BWS, is a psychological condition identified in the subject.

in the late 1970s by psychologist Dr. Lenore Walker. Dr. Walker studied patterns in women who had been abused by their partners over a long period of time and found common stages of what she called the cycle of violence. The syndrome started appearing in U.S. courtrooms in the early 1980s.

Often in homicide cases where an abused woman killed her partner, but not in a typical self-defense case where there's an immediate incident, an immediate threat of death that leads to the victim defending herself in order to prevent being killed. The battered women's syndrome defense usually hinges on expert testimony to explain how prolonged abuse can make a victim believe escape isn't possible, and they will be murdered unless they kill their abuser, and that the final act of self-defense was a result of systematic abuse

over a long period of time. It's usually known as battered women's syndrome, but it is sometimes called battered person syndrome because it isn't gender-specific. The same psychological effects can apply to men, women, non-binary people who have been abused over time. Just a reminder that domestic violence doesn't just look one way. Anyone, regardless of gender, can be a victim. It sounds like Danielle perhaps wanted to claim self-defense in this case, but given the documented history between the two of them, I don't think battered women's syndrome would have fit that narrative. Police records showed that she was the aggressor in multiple violent incidents against Jason, including several stabbings in the months before his death. Also, the expert who spoke

with her and prepared the report for her defense, said that she didn't show any signs of battered women's syndrome. So they wanted to limit Danielle's defense attorneys from using that at trial. According to the prosecutors, the expert wrote that Danielle showed signs of intimate partner violence, and her definition of IPV from the court documents doesn't match up with our definition. So we'll be talking about that in this week's swing shift. So make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss it. The court ruled that the prior bad act could come into trial, but I couldn't find a ruling in regards to the expert on battered women's syndrome being allowed to testify. I think that's because Danielle had begun negotiating a plea with the prosecutors.

On February 4th, 2025, Danielle pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree with a deadly weapon. At sentencing, the prosecutor noted that a family member who wanted to speak couldn't attend due to being out of state, but emphasized the profound impact Jason's death had on his loved ones. She was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole after 10 years for the murder and another 4 to 20 years for the deadly weapon enhancement, meaning she will become eligible for parole in 2037. When men are killed by their intimate partners, their stories don't always have the same headlines. Jason Williams deserves better than that.

He wasn't just a statistic. He was a person who tried to get help, but was killed anyway. His story is one more reason why we have to keep talking about domestic violence in all its forms. This case is another stark example of missed opportunities, multiple arrests, multiple stabbings, and an active protection order, all without consequences strong enough to protect Jason. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence regardless of gender, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799 Safe, that's 7233, or you can visit Sinspod.com slash resources for more information on resources close to you. If you or

someone you love is in crisis, you can always call or text 988 for suicide and mental health support. Thank you for listening, as always, and remember, what happens here, happens everywhere. Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod.co slash 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.