UPDATE 5/27/21: While the cause of death is still pending, authorities have confirmed the identity of the woman found dead, buried in the backyard of a northwest valley home.
Lucille Payne, 82, has been identified as the victim. Payne is listed as the homeowner at the address.
No arrests have been made in this case.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Neighbors shared their shock and fear with 8 News Now after human remains were discovered in the backyard of a northwest valley home.
“I was shocked,” said Laurence, who lives down the street from where the gruesome discovery was made. “And I thought, you know that I was in a movie.”
Metro Homicide Lt. Ray Spencer says human remains were found in the backyard of a home in the 8300 block of Shore Breeze Drive, near Rampart Boulevard and Lake Mead Boulevard.
Police processed the scene for forensic evidence Friday.
“Yesterday Metro received a tip on the residence,” according to Metro police sources. “Upon arriving on scene and doing a welfare check they noticed some suspicious things inside the home.”
“After interviewing neighbors, (officers) were told they saw two people in the backyard last week and they appeared to be digging. After checking in the backyard metro discovered some human remains,” police said.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department homicide detectives were immediately notified and have taken over the investigation, police said.
Neighbors say the home appeared empty for years, but according to the Clark County Assessor’s website and searches on the address, a woman in her 80s owns the home. We don’t know if the remains found are of that woman.
8 News Now spoke with a neighbor who says she saw police pulling those remains out of the yard this morning. She described how scary the whole thing was:
“They were, you know, moving the body out of the yard, on the plastic; it was blue plastic. It was small; it was not a full body,” said Laurence.
We also talked to other neighbors, who’ve lived on the street for 15-20 years. They say they never knew or even saw the woman who was listed as living at the home.
“It’s just kind of upsetting and unnerving to know that that stuff is going on,” said neighbor Jeff Chatterton.
They tell us this just added to the fear they were already feeling, as several incidents, including a deadly shooting, happened right around the corner last year.
“All of a sudden, it’s like, ‘oh, we have to be a little more careful now,'” shared neighbor Sarah Pena. “…At this time last year, his daughter woke us up and said, ‘I’m hearing gunshots.'”
Many are still shocked to hear about this latest situation, “As a fan of horror movies and stuff, you just never expect it to happen in real life,” said Chatterton.
They vow to look out for each other and hope things in the neighborhood stay quiet in the future.
