In the late afternoon sun of September 3, 2014, the life of 56-year-old Joseph Sheldon LeVine came to a sudden and violent end in his Las Vegas home. A man known for his larger-than-life personality as a poker dealer and Elvis impersonator, "Elvis Joe," was fatally shot in the chest with a shotgun. The person responsible was a 30-year-old homeless woman named Marjorie Fiora, who was acquainted with LeVine and would occasionally stay at his residence.
On that Wednesday, the events leading
up to the tragedy began with a deceptive sense of normalcy. Fiora had been swimming with two of LeVine's brothers in the pool at his home on Franklin Avenue. After getting out of the pool, Fiora, who was nude, went inside the house. A short time later, the brothers heard a single, deafening gunshot. Moments after the blast, Fiora was seen running from the house, uttering the chilling words, "I have to kill him." As she fled, one of LeVine's brothers managed to wrestle the shotgun away from her.
Following the shooting, a panicked Fiora sought refuge in the surrounding neighborhood. She broke a window of a nearby house and stole a dress. To the occupants of that home, she concocted a story of fleeing a violent boyfriend who was trying to kill her. Her flight was short-lived, however, as Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officers soon found her in the backyard of another nearby home and took her into custody. Inside his house, Joseph LeVine was gravely wounded. He was rushed to University Medical Center, but the damage was too severe, and he was pronounced dead.
Marjorie Fiora, also known as "Maggie," was arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of murder, burglary, and home invasion. In June 2016, to avoid a trial, Fiora pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. As a result of her plea, she was sentenced to a term of 14 to 35 years in prison for the death of the man who had, at times, offered her a place to stay.
