Body Is Not Accused Slayer Who Vanished : His ID Was Next to Burned-Out Car, but Dental Charts Do Not Match

The burned car and the driver’s license found lying on the ground next to it belonged to murder defendant Gerald Aesoph, who had disappeared just as his case was about to go to the jury.

But the body also found on the lonely mountain road last Friday was charred beyond recognition. By the time identification was completed by comparison of dental charts, about all police could determine was that the body was not that of Gerald Aesoph.

So, an arrest warrant has been issued for Aesoph and the body is listed by Las Vegas Metro Police as a John Doe.

‘All Planned Out’

“It’s like one of those things you see on TV,” said Metro Police Lt. Paul Conner. “It apparently was all planned out.”

Conner said gasoline or some other type of accelerant was poured on the car before it was set on fire. It was found early Friday morning on a mountain road 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

Aesoph, 33, who was being retried for the murder of brothel owner Bill Martin, was free on $50,000 cash bond. He had been convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1985, but the conviction was overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct. He was last seen Thursday in court in Las Vegas.

He had been scheduled to testify Friday as one of the last witnesses before the jury began considering a verdict. Instead, District Judge J. Charles Thompson called jurors back to court Friday afternoon and declared a mistrial.

“I was totally shocked Friday morning when Gerry wasn’t there,” said defense attorney Michael Zervas. “Quite frankly, I thought the trial was going very well.”

Zervas said Aesoph was prepared to testify in his own defense that he shot Martin in self-defense in 1982.

Zervas said that when Aesoph failed to appear in his office Friday morning, he called the Las Vegas residence where he was staying. He said a man who answered the phone said Aesoph had gone the night before to Pahrump, about 55 miles west of Las Vegas via the highway where the body was found.

Testimony Called a Factor

Prosecutor Andy Demetrus, however, said testimony from a key witness late Thursday may have been a factor in Aesoph’s disappearance.

“I thought we hit him pretty good that last day,” Demetrus said.

Conner said police were initially suspicious of the death and have been attempting to find Aesoph since the body was first discovered.

“The first thing you wonder is if it was really him,” he said. “It’s always suspicious when you have a case of that much notoriety. It was a question in our minds from the time the body was found.”

Conner said Aesoph had been living in Las Vegas since his release on bail from Nevada State Prison in July.

Aesoph was convicted of murder in April, 1985, in Tonopah, Nev., in the slaying of Martin, the owner of the Shamrock Brothel in Lathrop Wells, Nev. That conviction was overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court in June, 1986, after justices found prosecutors guilty of misconduct by mentioning during the trial that Aesoph elected to remain silent after his arrest.

Authorities said Aesoph had sought to buy the Shamrock from Martin, making him a sizable down payment but failing to come up with the remainder of the money. Aesoph tried to get his down payment back, sparking a fight between the two that lasted for weeks. Aesoph allegedly fired three shots into the brothel owner’s head during a heated argument at Martin’s home on April 28, 1982.