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A judge set bail at $500,000 today for a man authorities allege kidnapped a neighbor, killed her and encased her body in concrete.
If the suspect, Christopher Prestipino, posts bond and qualifies for house arrest, he must wear an electronic monitoring device, Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Harmony Letizia ruled.
His bail had originally been set at $100,000 but was subseqently revoked.
Prestipino, 45, and his roommate, Casandra Bascones, face counts of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Esmeralda Gonzalez, according to court records.
Bascones was arrested in Milwaukee on Friday and was awaiting extradition to Las Vegas.
Metro Police said they believe a body found Oct. 8 in a concrete-filled container in the desert near the Nevada-California border belongs to Gonzalez, 24, who was reported missing in late May. DNA testing was pending.
Gonzalez, who had a history of mental illness, was disoriented the day she went missing from her southwest valley neighborhood, not far from Prestipino’s house, police said.
An anonymous tipster told police Prestipino and Bascones gave Gonzalez methamphetamine, and when she threatened to call police, they tied her up, according to court documents.
After the victim punched Prestipino, she was strangled and injected with “pool cleaner,” the person reported, according to the documents.
“It’s clear that, unfortunately for the victim, she stumbled into the wrong house, was murdered and then this defendant and a codefendant dumped her out on the desert,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Pamela Weckerly said in court today.
Prestipino’s girlfriend, Lisa Mort, is accused of harboring, hiding or helping a felony offender, court records show. At the same court hearing this morning, the judge ordered her release with electronic monitoring.
Prestipino was arrested at the Las Vegas airport Oct. 11 after returning from a trip to Belize, prosecutors said.
At a hearing the following day, a judge set bail for him at $100,000, but it was later revoked after jail telephone recordings emerged of Prestipino and Mort discussing fleeing Las Vegas, prosecutors said.
Prestipino intended “to swoop into town, get Lisa (Mort) and then the two of them flee so he isn’t siting where he is this morning,” Weckerly said.
The next hearing was scheduled for Oct. 29.