In Las Vegas, Nevada, a 26-year-old Hispanic woman named Tabatha Lacerda Tozzi, an aspiring model and nightclub waitress, was looking to end the relationship with her boyfriend. In the days leading up to her death, she had expressed to friends and her mother that she was unhappy and afraid while trying to break up with him. On the morning of April 22, 2023, her attempts to leave culminated in a final, desperate phone call to her mother for help.
The situation escalated in the 8100 block
of Leger Drive, where Tozzi had met a friend. Her boyfriend, Oswaldo Natanahel Perez-Sanchez, confronted her in a jealous rage. The argument intensified, and Perez-Sanchez reportedly took Tozzi's keys, preventing her from leaving her car. In front of her close friend, he pulled out a gun and shot Tabatha in the head. He then carjacked the friend at gunpoint and fled the scene in her vehicle.
Tabatha Tozzi was rushed to a trauma center and placed on life support. She succumbed to her injuries and died two days later, on April 24, 2023, surrounded by friends and family. In a final act of generosity, her organs were donated, a decision her family believes may have saved dozens of lives. The Clark County Coroner officially ruled her death a homicide on May 2nd, the same day that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department publicly identified Perez-Sanchez as the suspect, nearly two weeks after the shooting.
For almost two years, Perez-Sanchez remained a fugitive. The search for him became an international manhunt involving the FBI and U.S. Marshals, with rewards totaling over $30,000 offered for information leading to his capture. Authorities believed he might have fled to California or Mexico. In April 2025, Oswaldo Perez-Sanchez was arrested in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico. His capture was linked to the investigation into the femicide of another woman, Vivian Karely, in Culiacán, Mexico. Following his arrest, he was set to be transported to a penitentiary in Culiacán, with extradition to the United States pending.
