Las Vegas slayings: Man arrested in family’s bludgeoning deaths

Las Vegas police have arrested a suspect in the double slayings of a woman and her 10-year-old daughter in their home earlier this month. The brutal attack -- a claw hammer was used to bludgeon the victims to death -- was first reported by the woman’s 9-year-old son, who told a counselor at school that his mother and sister were dead.

The 22-year-old suspect, Bryan Clay, was linked to the April 15 attacks by DNA testing, according to a statement from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The father was critically injured in the attack and remains hospitalized.

Clay was also linked to a sexual assault of the girl. He was also linked to the unrelated assault of a woman walking near an intersection in west Las Vegas.

The suspect had no apparent connection to the family or to the woman in west Las Vegas.

“This was a complete stranger killing a mother and daughter and attacking the father,” Lt. Ray Steiber told the Associated Press. “I’ve been doing this [police work] 24 years, and you don’t see cases like this. I can’t even put this into words.”

The father was critically injured in the attack and remains hospitalized. The 9-year-old who reported the attacks and his 4-year-old brother were unharmed and have been placed in protective custody, AP reported.

The arrest followed an around-the-clock investigation by Las Vegas authorities, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Said Steiber in the Review-Journal: “This is the kind of case that goes on that they write movies about. And I don’t say that as to be an entertainment factor. I’m saying this was a savage, heinous crime.”

tami.dennis@latimes.com

ALSO:

2011 Alabama tornadoes: Many died despite seeking shelter

Bear gives University of Colorado a try, lasts about four hours

Marines ordered to make more room for women on the front lines