LAS VEGAS -- The best and brightest detectives at Metro and most police departments are often found in the homicide division.
But catching killers is gruesome work, so a married mother of five might not be expected to be working in a homicide division.
But Sgt. Annette Darr, the first female supervisor in Metro homicide, said she has had a yen for solving murder cases ever since she was a girl.
"You have to be tough to work in homicide," she said. "I mean, everyone has their role, their place. I work with the best detectives in the department. They care the most, they work the hardest."
Metro's homicide office isn't for the faint of heart. On one wall is the ever changing list of current murder cases. On another is a sort of a trophy collection -- mugshots of the killers they've sent to death row.
Even the unofficial logo -- aces and eights -- is a gallows-humor reminder that the people who work here face life and death issues every day.
"From when I was a young girl, I wanted to work in homicide. Period," Darr said. "So I developed an outside background in biology, criminalists to help prepare me, and then came here and tried to diversify my career so that no matter what, when the opportunity came, regardless of my gender, I would be looked at fondly to have this position."
Her boss, Lt. Ray Steiber, said Darr didn't even know that would be Metro's first female homicide supervisor until after she got the job. There have been many top notch women in homicide but never a sergeant, he said.
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Homicide detectives are generally considered to be the smartest cops with the hardest heads in the department, but Darr said she's taken little grief from her team. She's part drill instructor, part den mother, and the only place where her gender sometimes makes a difference is at a crime scene.
"One of the plusses of being a female homicide sergeant is that at the scenes, often, family members will gravitate to me for comfort," she said. "I take that on, and I accept that, and I hug back. If I can provide them some peace, that gives me the peace that I'm doing the right thing."
Darr had already overseen 30 cases when in April a mother and daughter, Yadira and Karla Martinez, were slain in their home. Darr spearheaded an intense round-the-clock investigation that resulted in the arrest of Bryan Clay.
An arrest is not the end of it though, she said.
"So much time goes into preparing for court, and we still have a family that is left broken," she said. "We still take calls from the family. We still talk to the family. And it's important to make sure they are doing well, their needs are taken care of. So the case really will never be done, even when we go to trial, it continues."
Everything she's done in her 15 years at Metro has groomed Darr for the job in homicide, from working patrol to the elite intelligence unit and special training as a crisis negotiator and especially her work in sexual assault.
Veteran detectives will tell you, though, that the tricky part about working homicide is being able to leave the crime scenes and the victims behind when you go home at night.
"You know that every life is precious, every day is precious, so you value the time you have with your family and loved ones," Darr said. "I hold my kids close and my husband closer, and you move forward.
"Having the background and dealing with child death, sex abuse, sexual assault investigations, seeing the worst of the worst, you know you have to put that in its place and go home and celebrate life."
Members of the Martinez family, including Arturo, the wounded father, were in court yesterday when murder suspect Bryan Clay appeared on another matter.
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Darr said she is humbled and amazed by the resilience of the Martinez family, despite their overwhelming loss.
She also said the terrible wounds inflicted on Arturo Martinez will not stop him from helping Metro and the district attorney to make sure justice is served.
