In the early hours of May 21, 2018, a tragic series of events unfolded in Las Vegas, Nevada, culminating in the death of 50-year-old Dennis Keith Dillard Jr., a White/Caucasian male from Pahrump. Dillard was discovered behind the wheel of his SUV around 12:30 a.m. on the 4900 block of Rogers Street, having crashed his vehicle. A passerby who stopped to check on him discovered he was suffering from gunshot wounds and alerted the authorities.
Investigators determined that Dillard had been
shot in the chest in a nearby warehouse parking lot on Bond Street. In a desperate attempt to escape his assailant or assailants, Dillard drove his SUV away from the scene, striking several buildings and cars before ultimately crashing into a light pole a few hundred yards away. He was rushed to University Medical Center, but tragically succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds. The Clark County coroner later ruled his death a homicide.
The investigation into Dillard's death led Las Vegas police to two suspects, Cathrine Alice Hay, 29, and Joel Serrano, 35. A significant breakthrough in the case came when Serrano's girlfriend contacted Henderson police, reporting that Serrano had taken her gun and vehicle and confessed to her that he "possibly killed a guy." She also told police she had to sew up two wounds on Hay's arm. Surveillance footage from businesses near the scene captured Dillard's SUV and a sedan matching the description of the one belonging to Serrano's girlfriend. The video showed a man and a woman at the scene before and after Dillard's vehicle rolled out of the parking lot and crashed.
Both Hay and Serrano were arrested and faced charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They were booked into the Clark County Detention Center and held without bail. A grand jury later indicted them on charges of conspiracy to commit robbery, robbery with a deadly weapon, and murder with a deadly weapon.
