LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Las Vegas man is accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend, then hiding her body in his home for two days, police documents said.
On Aug. 14 at around 2:30 p.m., a man entered the Southeast Area Command Center for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to report a homicide. According to the arrest report, the man told police that he was “fearful that if anyone knew he was at the police station, he would be killed.”
The report stated that he told police that he was at a house in the 1600 block of Golden Arrow Drive on Aug. 12, two days prior, when he heard an argument between James Gina III, 50, and his girlfriend, Celina Rebholz at around 9 a.m.
He told police that he knew Gina owned at least three firearms, had a violent temper, and did crystal meth, the report stated.
According to the report, Rebholz was calling Gina a pedophile, the witness said it sounded like Rebholz was throwing things. The witness heard Gina tell Rebholz, “I’ll put three in you if you don’t shut up,” referring to shooting Rebholz three times.
The report stated that Gina’s mother tried to intervene but Gina told her he would “also shoot her if she didn’t go away.” The witness told police that he and Gina’s mother left the house to go gamble for approximately 3 hours.
The witness told police that when he returned, Gina was acting “frantic and distraught,” the report stated. Gina took the witness to a bedroom in the house, where he saw Rebholz laying naked on the floor with a hole in her chest.
The report stated that Gina’s mother told police that Gina told him he was “fiddling with his gun” and “accidentally” shot Rebholz.
According to the report, the witness said Rebholz was still alive, wheezing and “making gurgling sounds.” The witness told Gina to call an ambulance, but Gina didn’t. The witness told police that he left the house because he “did not know what to do and could not deal with the situation.”
The witness later received a text from Gina which said “she’s gone, she’s dead,” according to the report. The witness told police that he deleted the message because he “did not want anything related to the murder on his phone.”
The report stated that the witness returned to the house on Aug. 13 to speak with Gina. Gina told him that he “killed the woman [he] loved” and hid her body in the attic. The witness said Gina asked him if he could drive Gina and his mother to the airport so they could get a rental car.
According to the report, Gina did not want to move Rebholz’s body inside his own car because she was “beginning to emit a foul odor.”
The report stated that Gina’s mother told police that he told her they needed a rental car because all of their vehicles were “inoperable.”
On Aug. 14 at around 7:30 p.m., officers arrived at the house on Golden Arrow Drive and took Gina into custody. While searching the home, officers found Rebholz’s body in Gina’s bedroom, covered by a blanket.
The report stated that Rebholz had been shot 12 times.
Gina refused to speak with detectives. He is being held at the Clark County Detention Center where he faces charges of open murder with a deadly weapon and owning or possessing a gun as a prohibited person. He is being held without bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 5 at 9:30 a.m.
For a list of local and state resources for domestic violence and abuse victims, visit this link.
