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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Police say they have arrested a Las Vegas man for murder after finding the partially burned and dismembered body of a woman in his apartment's bathtub.
Nathanael Martinez allegedly told officers he choked the woman inside his apartment after she revealed she was a prostitute and threatened him with a knife, demanding money, according to an arrest report released Tuesday. The 21-year-old man was arrested Friday after an uncle he lives with reported finding the woman's body in the tub.
Martinez told police he initially dragged her into his bedroom thinking she was unconscious, the report said. When he woke and realized she was dead, he put her in the bathtub, the report said he told police. He first attempted to cut off her arms and legs, but he "felt bad," so he stopped, according to the report. He told police he doused her with lighter fluid and lit her on fire but "felt bad about that too," so he turned on the shower to stop the flames, according to the report.
He covered her body with a rug and blanket, and kept the woman's iPhone, hiding her other belongings and clothes, the report said.
The report said he met the woman early Thursday morning on the Las Vegas Strip before they returned to his apartment to have sex. He told officers that he couldn't remember her name, according to the report.
It isn't clear if Martinez is represented by an attorney. He was being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail and couldn't be reached for a comment Tuesday.
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