Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - Unsolved but not Forgotten

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Las Vegas has long been plagued by high rates of violent crime—and a disturbingly low rate of resolution. In this anthology episode, we share the stories of four unsolved murders: Eugene Bell, Brittney Biggs, Celia Luna Delgado, and John Norris.Each case is tragic, each one baffling—and each deserves answers. Some of these victims were barely covered in the press. Others were quickly forgotten. But all left behind, grieving families who are still waiting for justice. We’re bringing their stories back into the spotlight in hopes that someone out there knows something—and is finally ready to come forward.https://sinspod.co/90https://sinspod.co/90bloghttps://sinspod.co/90sourceshttps://sinspod.co/90sub (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 sins pod co slash subscribe starting at 299 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 Las Vegas is consistently listed among the cities with the highest rates of domestic violence and domestic violence homicides But was also recently ranked 13th in the highest rates for all homicides. The rate here is lower than in places like Memphis and Detroit, but the rates are four times as high as in a much safer city like San Francisco. Not only that, but the clearance or solve rate for homicides is lower here because of various factors, such as funding and how transitory the population in Las Vegas can be. People are always moving in and moving out.

Today we're going to talk about four unsolved murders in Las Vegas that have been open for a while. It's so important that we keep these cases on people's minds, making it more likely that anyone with information will come forward and help solve them. It's four tragic and baffling stories of lives lost and four families devastated by those losses. ["Sins and Survivors," by John Williams, playing in background.] 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. After our three-part anthology series on the Lake Mead recreational area, we came across a list of unsolved homicides that have occurred here in Las Vegas, and we decided to take the opportunity to bring them to you in another anthology episode. Some of the cases weren't covered in much depth by the local news, something we complain about often, and as a result we have relatively little information about the victims, but will tell you what we were able to find and hopefully someone listening will come forward and bring these families the closure they've been waiting for a

long time. So today we're talking about the murders of Eugene Bell, Celia Luna Delgado, Brittany Biggs, and John Norris. Do you want to get us started with our first case this week, Eugene Bell? Sure. Eugene Bell was born on October 28th, 1984 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was the son of Priscilla Cobbs and Eugene Bell and had three sisters named Tanisha, Brittany and April. His family described him as having a loud voice, a big smile and a great sense of humor, always wanting to make people laugh.

They also said that he had a huge appetite. He just loved to eat. According to them, he was a very caring guy who was never afraid to show it. In the photos his family shared, all of that comes through. His large family seemed to always be having fun and laughing when they spent time together. Eugene graduated from West Mesa High School in Albuquerque in 2004. He played varsity football there for the Mustangs for all four years, and before that he had played with the New Mexico Young America Football League. He was also a huge Dallas Cowboys fan and you could often catch him talking football with his

friends and family. After high school he pursued a degree in film at Central New Mexico Community College, one of the digital media degrees they offer. He had two children, a son Dijon and a daughter Amari, who he was very devoted to. He always did everything in his power to make sure they were happy and taken care of. There are so many photos of him with the kids and even videos of him having a dance party with his daughter. When he was a teenager, he worked for the city of Albuquerque in the Thomas Bell Community Center, which is actually named for his grandfather.

He also worked as a chef at a nearby Sheraton, and according to his family, he often used them as taste testers for his recipes there, which I'm sure they must have loved. In 2013, he took a job driving an 18-wheeler, which allowed him to travel a lot and, not surprisingly, build up a lot of long-distance friendships as he crisscrossed the Southwest. He'd visit those friends when he drove through, often stopping to spend time with the people he'd met. One of his favorite places was Las Vegas, and he had friends here, too. His sister April said that Las Vegas was where he came to play.

During that time, he kept in touch with his family, and especially his kids, over FaceTime from the cab of his truck when he took breaks from the long days on the road, being the great dad he was. When he was home, his friends would know it based on the long days on the road, being the great dad he was. When he was home, his friends would know it based on the big rig parked out in front of his mom's house. For his 33rd birthday in 2017, he decided he was going to spend it in Las Vegas. He came into town in October, and for the days leading up to his birthday, he hung out with friends, drinking in various locations.

But sadly, this visit ended in tragedy and a mystery. On the morning of October 26th, around 6.20am, Las Vegas Metro was called to a Terribles gas station at 4150 South Durango near the corner of Flamingo. A woman who was very intoxicated had driven to the gas station looking for help because her friend had been shot in the chest. That friend was Eugene. When the police arrived, they discovered that Eugene was in the back of her car, and sadly, he had died. Because of how intoxicated she was, she was not able to provide the detectives with much information about what happened,

just that they'd been drinking in several places. They quickly determined that the shooting probably happened at an apartment complex nearby, but there is no information on what, if anything, they learned when they investigated at the complex when they surrounded it that morning and attempted to gather what information they could. Also, very strangely, some news sources say that the woman who brought Eugene to the gas station for help was cleared and isn't a suspect, and that she was cooperative. But other sources say very specifically that she refused to cooperate with the police and that they think she knows more than she's willing to tell. But she was certainly determined to be a friend of Eugene's, but beyond that there isn't much info. It seems reasonable that if she didn't cooperate, she would have been brought in for questioning,

but that doesn't appear to be the case based on the record. It's frustrating, but you often see conflicting reports like this, which make the details hazy. It was also reported that by the time the police got to Eugene, he had been dead for several hours. Eugene was the 186th homicide in 2017, a horribly high number. His little sister April has said that she feels like Las Vegas killed her big brother Eugene, her fun, funny brother who was such a great dad, son, and friend to so many people.

When she was interviewed, she reminded us that everyone loved him, and he was caring, maybe too caring. She refuses to come to Las Vegas or set foot in the city that she feels took her brother while she knows his murderer walks free. It's been nearly eight years since Eugene was murdered. His kids, his family, and all the people who loved him deserve answers, and Eugene deserves justice. Any information, however seemingly insignificant, might be the bit of information detectives need to crack this case. As always, you can remain anonymous or leave a tip with Crime Stoppers by calling 702-385-5555 or by visiting CrimestoppersofNV.com,

or you can always call Metro Police Homicide directly at 702-828-3521. We will share photos of Eugene and the car he was found in on our social media, along with a photo of the Terribles gas station where all of this happened, in case that helps jog someone's memory about the events of that morning. The next case we have to share today is the unsolved murder of 24-year-old Brittany Briggs, also in 2017. Brittany was born in 1993. Her parents are Kimberly Briggs and John Schaffner.

She has a younger brother named Austin Schaffner, and she has a young daughter who is only three years old when she lost her mom, and what you'll probably agree is the most traumatic way imaginable. In an interview with News Channel 3, her loving and obviously devastated family talked about her, describing her as very kind and very loving and a great mom to her daughter. On February 8th, 2017,

Brittany announced on her Facebook page that she just got a job as a tax preparer at Universal Tax and was excited about it and things seemed to be going well for her. On February 9th, she came back to her home of about four years in the 1900 block of Spindrift Court near East Lake Mead Boulevard and Mount Hood that's in the northeast part of the Las Vegas Valley. The next morning though, she didn't show up for an appointment with a friend. Concerned, her friend came by her house around 1130 a.m. on the 10th and knew something was

wrong right away. Brittany's front door was ajar, and she could hear her daughter crying inside the house. She came in to discover her friend in the main bedroom, murdered, with her daughter in the next room. Police arrived quickly and initially noted that they didn't think they saw any visible signs of trauma, but the next day the Clark County coroner determined that she had, in fact, been beaten and strangled to death, again with her toddler daughter in the next room. To the police, her house seemed like it had been ransacked, but they determined the only things

that were missing were her debit and EBT cards and her cell phone. Later her daughter told her grandparents some truly terrifying and heartbreaking things about that night. She told them that someone had come into her room and told her to be quiet and then put a blanket over her. And in the morning, she'd come into her mom's room and tried to wake her up several times before she was discovered by Brittany's friend. Police were left with a lot of questions about who could have committed this crime. It turned out there were no signs of forced entry into the home, so was it possible she knew her murderer? She was known to sell things online, like clothing and other items, so initially they thought it might have been related to one of those transactions, but if they found any evidence to support that theory,

they didn't share it. Her family believes that her murderer knew her because the home was ransacked, but that person only took her EBT debit card and cell phone, three of the most traceable things that there are. Their thinking is that her cell phone might have contained text messages or other evidence that the murderer might have wanted to dispose of.

They also have theories about other potential suspects. Brittany had a new boyfriend she'd been seeing for only a few weeks, and her family found his behavior suspicious, but we couldn't find any information indicating he had been investigated or even questioned. The family did mention that he seemed genuinely upset over her murder. Another person they suspected was someone they described as a creepy guy from her church. Allegedly, on the very day Brittany was discovered, he posted online that a friend of his had been strangled, but the coroner hadn't determined that was Brittany's cause of death until the next day. Of course, we should note

that it's possible this could have just been a guess on his part and that person hasn't been charged. The family has also called out Metro for not doing a DNA analysis, looking for DNA under Britney's fingernails. They said there's no way someone is strangled to death without fighting back, and it makes sense to collect DNA evidence. And of course, we agree with that, given all of the DNA solves we've covered in the past two years. But unfortunately, we don't know if that's part of the investigation. It's entirely possible they have that evidence, but Metro isn't sharing that. The apparent lack of progress in the investigation has led Brittany's mom to say

that she believes the police aren't interested in solving her murder. Unfortunately and heartbreakingly, Brittany's daughter's bio dad has moved to California and taken his daughter with him and cut off all contact with Brittany's family. She's their last tie with their beloved Brittany and they would very much like to know how she's doing and we truly hope they get back into contact. It's been more than eight years since Britney's murder and it's not clear to us if this is considered a cold case. Some sources indicated it was, but the contact on the Metro website is still listed as the Homicide Division. As we talked about before though, Metro does have an active cold case unit, including Detective Terry Miller, who said it's still an ongoing investigation. Anyone who has any information about who could have been responsible for

Brittany Briggs's murder should contact Metro Homicide, the Cold Case Division, or Crime Stoppers. All of the contacts for those are in our resources at sinspod.co. The next case we have for you seems very random. The police even described it as the victim being in the wrong place at the wrong time, with tragic results for her and the loved ones she left behind. Celia Luna Delgado was born in 1962, and she was the matriarch of her family. She has three adult children named Sheila Padilla, Carlos Perez Luna, and Esau Felix Jr. And she has three grandchildren, not to mention brothers and sisters, and as her family tells it,

a never-ending number of friends who have turned into family. From everything we've read about her, family was the most important thing to Celia. Before 9 a.m. on January 11, 2018, Celia, who was 55 at the time, went to work as she had for the previous three years at the Express Check Cashing location at 1411 North Jones Boulevard near Vegas Drive. Company policy was apparently that only one person opened the store, so Celia was alone. As she was opening the store, she was confronted by two young men in their early twenties or late teens, who, according to police, had likely been casing the location,

waiting for an employee to arrive. Just after Celia opened, they forced her into the back room of the business and demanded she give them all the money in the safe. This expressed check cashing wasn't in the safest area and other nearby businesses had been robbed in the past, so this was something Celia had thought about. Her family was worried about her, especially since it was a check cashing business that had a lot of cash on hand, and she had talked about this with her daughter Shayla. She told her that she'd never risk her life for this business because she valued her own life over the business,

which of course is the right way to think about it. She said they're insured and she wasn't going to play at being brave. Also we should note that before the robbery, Shailiff said her mom never felt threatened or scared at work. When the young men forced her into the back room, she did everything they said, but they got frustrated and enraged when they found out she couldn't get into the safe because it was a time-based lock. She had no control over when it opened. The two men must have panicked because they ended up shooting her in the

back and fleeing the scene. Celia was able to call 911 and tell them that she'd been shot. First responders arrived quickly and she was transported to University Medical Center, but unfortunately she passed away just two hours later. Considering it was a check cashing store and it was 2018, you might expect that they have a great or at least functional surveillance system, but it turns out that their cameras weren't working at the time. Police pursued various leads including surveillance video from nearby businesses, but no identification could be made.

The two young men had fled into a nearby residential area and no one could be located who had seen them. They even left a piece of clothing behind, but eight years later, no suspects have been found and no arrests have been made. Ray Spencer, a detective with Las Vegas Metro Police, said that it was one of the cases that bothered him the most from 2018 because it was just so senseless. Celia did exactly what they said, and she had no ability to give them what they wanted. They had no reason at all to shoot her.

He said that in crimes like this, someone always talks about it, so it's very possible that someone here in Vegas knows something about who did this. The police and her family have pleaded with the public to come forward with any leads they might have, however seemingly small or insignificant. Her devastated family knows that finding the people responsible won't bring Celia back, but as they've said, and we agree, she deserves justice. Because of the outrageous incompetence of the business for not having a working alarm system, security personnel, or a surveillance system, the family brought a wrongful death

suit against the company in 2019. While this also won't bring Celia back, it is important to hold companies accountable. The most important part now for her family is to find the people responsible for this senseless crime. If you were in the area of Jones and Vegas Drive on January 11, 2018, or you have any information that could help with the investigation, please call Metro Homicide or Crime Stoppers to remain anonymous. The final case we have for you today is another very frustrating one with relatively little

information to go on beyond the location where the crime occurred. Alton, Illinois native John Norris was a 51-year-old Navy veteran living in Las Vegas in 2009. His family described him as a jokester and a dedicated fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. He was extremely close to his younger brother Matt, who he spoke to nearly every day. He moved here around 2005 for a reason we've heard before to make a better life for him and his teenage daughter, Whitney, who was 19 in 2009. He was putting himself through massage therapy school and working two jobs to pay rent and make ends meet. Just a few years earlier, Las Vegas was absolutely booming.

Cranes dotted the skyline, building new high-rise casinos, and new neighborhoods were springing up all over the valley overnight. Real estate prices were sky high, and it had never been easier to get a mortgage. There were people who you'd consider middle class, who were buying several homes, way more than their income could really pay for, with no scrutiny at all. In 2009 though, Las Vegas was at the center of one of the worst economic collapses in US history. That housing bubble burst

and we entered the great recession. Home prices collapsed, people lost their jobs, and foreclosures were extremely common. There were layoffs in construction, obviously, but also in real estate and hospitality. In a given neighborhood, sometimes half the homes were abandoned, foreclosed on by the bank, or worse, occupied by squatters.

The previous owners often left in the middle of the night, leaving most of their belongings, and even their cats and dogs behind. They just walked away. Streets were like ghost towns. It felt like the fabric of the entire community was unraveling. Burglaries, property crime, and thefts skyrocketed that year, and homicides were up. At the time, people thought Las Vegas would cease to exist, as crazy as that sounds. The unemployment rate was 11% in 2009,

but it went as high as 14%, the highest in the country, because of course, when the entire economy collapses, tourism is one of the first things to go. In the midst of all this in 2009 when it was getting worse one of John Norris's jobs was delivering pizza for Pizza Hut and on January 24th 2009 it was a work night like any other hustling and delivering pizzas. At 730 that evening Metro police responded to a report of shots fired in the 5800 block of Rose Sage Street near Ann and Camino Al Norte in the north end of the valley. When police arrived, they found John, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. He had been shot.

The house he had been delivering the pizza to was abandoned, so the theory was that he was ambushed, possibly as part of a robbery or gang initiation ritual. He was identified the following Monday. One of the side effects of all the foreclosures was that there were fewer witnesses to these crimes. In the aftermath of his murder, police circulated a photo of an individual they thought might have been in the area, which we will share, but there have been no arrests in the case. As his brother rightly said, John's murder became cold right away because there was no motive. Whoever murdered John had no idea who would be delivering the pizza, so there are no avenues of investigation there. John was laid to rest in his hometown of Alton, Illinois.

He is survived by his daughter Whitney, who was 19 at the time and is 25 today. His family had a celebration of life for him including a video presentation, his friend Mike Jacobs put together, and a balloon release. The celebration wasn't specifically a fundraiser per se, but they did raise $1,800 which was donated to help Whitney. There are $22,000 in rewards available for information leading to the arrest of John's murderer. $10,000 from Pizza Hut, $10,000 from Meadow Gold, and $2,000 from Crime Stoppers. If you or anyone you know has any information, please reach out to Crime Stoppers or Metro Homicide's Cold Case Division. This is another case where it's likely that there is someone out there with information that can lead to this case being solved.

Unsolved and cold cases like this can be frustrating, but it's important to keep talking about them so there's a chance we can get some resolution for the victims' families. We appreciate you listening, and if you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. These positive reviews really help us get these episodes out to a wider audience and increase the chances that the right person will hear them, possibly leading to closure. Until next week, we remind you that what happens here happens everywhere. Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod.co.uk 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 sinsandsurvivors.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, sinsandsurvivors.com. Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research written and produced by your hosts, 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, sinsandsurvivors.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.