In a quiet, gated community in Las Vegas, a caretaker made a gruesome discovery on March 19, 2018. Marc Levy, a 49-year-old White / Caucasian male, was found deceased in his home in the Desert Shores neighborhood. He had been shot in the back of the head. The discovery rattled residents of the normally safe and tranquil community, who had last seen Levy outside his home the previous Friday.
A clue that something was amiss was his garage door, which had been left open for more than a day, a violation of the homeowners' association rules.
Homicide detectives from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department immediately began an investigation. Their hopes for a breakthrough rested on surveillance footage from Levy's home. The video revealed a man entering the passenger side of Levy's truck, a maneuver that seemed calculated to avoid being captured on camera. This footage proved to be the key to identifying a suspect: 32-year-old Neal Thomas. Investigators soon discovered that Thomas had a prior conviction for murder, escalating the urgency of his capture.
The investigation into Marc Levy's death took a dramatic turn far from the neon lights of Las Vegas. Authorities tracked Neal Thomas to Kansas, where he was pulled over by the Kansas Highway Patrol near Kansas City. As a trooper approached the truck, a female passenger fled the vehicle. Before law enforcement could make contact with him, Thomas took his own life with a firearm. The woman, who was from Las Vegas, was questioned and subsequently released. The gun Thomas used to kill himself was sent to Las Vegas Metro Police, as it was believed to be the same weapon used to murder Marc Levy. Thomas's suicide brought a swift end to the manhunt but left Levy's family with unanswered questions and a profound lack of closure, as the motive for the murder may never be fully known.
