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Dec. 20, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Authorities identify body of LV woman
Burned corpses pose mystery for police
By KEITH ROGERS
REVIEW-JOURNAL
While police investigate three burned bodies found within a week's span at locations around the Las Vegas Valley, one of them has been identified as a Las Vegas woman.
Ivonne M. Chacon, 52, died of strangulation, a Clark County coroner's official said Monday.
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Chacon was found in the back of a torched Toyota early Dec. 13 near a gypsum plant, about five miles east of the intersection of Lake Mead and Hollywood boulevards.
On Wednesday, homicide detectives found a body in the trunk of a burning car on Sandy Valley Road, west of the valley, about a half mile off state Route 160. The burning vehicle was reported after 4:40 a.m. Wednesday by a trucker traveling from Pahrump.
That body found inside the trunk of a 2003 Jaguar with a Nevada license plate was burned beyond recognition, police have said.
North Las Vegas police are investigating the body of a man found about 2:40 p.m. Sunday in the desert about two miles from the Las Vegas Beltway and Losee Road at the north end of the valley.
The body, found by a passer-by, had been burned, said Las Vegas police Lt. Tom Monahan, who said his department has been in contact with North Las Vegas police to investigate any possible connections between the cases.
"At this point in our investigation, we have found no linkage whatsoever," Monahan said, referring to the two deaths that were discovered Dec. 13 and Wednesday.
Monahan said his detectives think they have identified the person found off state Route 160, but the coroner's office did not make the name available on Monday.
"Everybody is saying, 'That's weird.' We agree," Monahan said of the discoveries. "But through all of our investigation, we don't see anything. We're digging hard to find something. We're not finding a connection."
Monahan said the burned bodies could be a coincidence and hopes that a growing number of criminals are not trying to burn bodies as a means to destroy evidence.
A North Las Vegas police spokesman, Tim Bedwell, said his department is awaiting an autopsy before commenting on the condition of the body found on his turf.
"At this point, we don't see a connection with any of the others," Bedwell said about the man's body that was found Sunday.
"We suspect foul play, and we're treating this as a homicide, but we don't know the cause of death. The condition of the body is such that we need to wait for the coroner," Bedwell said.
Review-Journal writer Frank Curreri contributed to this story.