Michael Land
Facebook messages, surveillance video and a victim’s friend — who last saw her with the alleged killer — helped Metro put a suspect in custody, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Michael Land, 38, was booked Monday at the Clark County Detention Center on a count of murder, police said today.
He is accused of killing Bailley Olivia Short, 20, who died from a gunshot wound to the head and neck early Aug. 15, according to police and the Clark County Coroner’s Office.
The day of her death, Short, who engaged in prostitution, had been in contact with a client named “Mike” who worked on the Strip as a security guard, said an associate of the victim, who would drive her in exchange for gas money.
The associate told detectives that they picked up the suspect from work, and drove south on Las Vegas Boulevard, police said.
They stopped at a fast-food restaurant, and the trio were caught on video, police said.
Short and the suspect were dropped off at a long-term hotel where he lived, but the driver saw them walk toward the Tahiti Village in the 7200 block of Las Vegas Boulevard South, police said.
That’s where police were dispatched when a guest heard gunfire, police said. Officers found Short’s body about 2:40 a.m. near the property’s parking garage in the 7200 block of Las Vegas Boulevard South, police said.
A man with a hooded sweatshirt hauling a backpack caught on video walking near the slaying scene matched the man observed with Short near the fast-food restaurant, police said.
Furthermore, a Facebook Messenger conversation between the two helped detectives confirm the driver’s account, police said.
Land was taken into custody near Maryland Parkway and Silverado Ranch Road, police said.