Slaying victim mourned in hopes of solving 2010 case

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Christopher DeVargas

Metro volunteers hold signs Thursday, March 14, 2019, asking the public for any information regarding the 2010 slaying of Robert Waddell.

Sun, Mar 17, 2019 (2 a.m.)

Justice For Families: Robert Waddell

Sgt. Joshua Stark of LVMPD asks the public for any information regarding the case of Robert Waddell, a Las Vegas man who was shot and killed in July of 2010.  Thursday March 14, 2019. Launch slideshow »

Robert Waddell is one of about 1,000 victims whose slayings have gone unsolved in Clark County in the past 50 years or so, Metro Police Sgt. Jon Scott said.

That means some of those killers are still able to roam freely in the community, he noted.

“They’ve taken someone’s life and they think they’re going to get away with it,” Scott said after Thursday’s Justice for Families rally. “You never know when we’re going to show up, and it’s highly likely that we will show up.”

In Waddell’s case, he was driving his large red car with oversized wheels when someone shot him in the central valley, police said. He was able to pull up to a nearby convenience store and made it to the door, but collapsed.

Officers responded at about 5:30 a.m. July 16, 2010, to 1500 W. Bonanza Road, at the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard, police said. Waddell, also known as “Rob-Loc,” died at University Medical Center.

Almost nine years later, the 28-year-old again was memorialized outside a northwest valley church for the monthly rally organized by Metro’s Bolden Area Command substation.

How the victims are remembered varies.

One time, participants marched down a central valley neighborhood. Last month’s event was rained out and moved indoors.

Sometimes the victims' families show up and stand alongside officials, asking the public to provide even the tiniest clue that may solve the case.

The pleas are later posted on Metro-run social media accounts.

Tears have been shed, candles lit and balloons released.

It’s not unusual for the event be held simultaneously with a free farmer’s market at Liberty Baptist Church, 6501 W. Lake Mead Blvd.

Attendees there to pick up food are told about cold cases in an effort to drum up leads. But this time around, in a symbolic gesture, the food was dedicated to Waddell’s memory.

Potatoes, Barnum’s Animal Crackers and Smorz cereal sat on a table. “So, when everyone here takes the food … they remember that Robert Waddell was killed in a homicide that’s gone unsolved,” Sgt. Joshua Starks said.

By the time Sgt. Scott left his position at the cold case unit a few years ago, the team had solved 22 homicide cases, he said.

He’s hoping the same for Waddell’s.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Metro at 702-828-3521 or via email at [email protected]. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555 or online at crimestoppesrofnv.com. The owner also is offering a reward.

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