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Vegas Woman Accused Of Killing Husband, Then Trying To Pass Death Off As Self-Inflicted
Emily Ikuta initially claimed her husband had accidentally shot himself, but the police said the evidence at the scene did not appear to match her story.
A Las Vegas woman has been accused of fatally shooting her husband while he was on a live chat with an acquaintance.
Emily Ikuta, 37, is now facing charges of open murder in her husband’s death after police said they were able to rule out suicide, according to a statement from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Detectives were called to the couple’s apartment around 11 p.m. on March 22 by Ikuta, who told dispatchers she had come home from walking her dog and found her husband, Jourell Ng, 36, face down on the floor, struggling to breathe, according to a police report obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
She initially told dispatchers he had shot himself before adding in later interviews with investigators that she thought he had accidentally died while cleaning his gun. She told police that after she had found him on the floor, she had picked up a gun she found near his body and locked it in a closet.
However, detectives said the evidence discovered at the scene did not appear to match her story.
“Below the body of (Ng) there was no large pooling of blood that was expected had (Ng) been found face down, as Ikuta stated she had found him,” police said in the report.
Police did discover gun-cleaning materials at a nearby desktop and shelving unit, but none of the materials looked like they had been recently used and the cleaning mat was neatly put away on a shelf.
The trajectory of the bullet also did not appear to match where the bullet would have likely struck Ng had he been cleaning the weapon as Ikuta claimed, police said.
Detectives also received a call from an acquaintance of Ng’s who had been “on a live chat with (Ng) during the time of his murder,” according to the report.
“They informed detectives they heard (Ng’s) dog barking in the background of the call, prior to hearing a slapping noise they believed was a gunshot,” police said.
The reporting party heard a yelp and then silence, the report said.
Investigators allege Ikuta is responsible for the death and arrested her for open murder.
She is currently being held at the Clark County Detention Center. Her preliminary hearing has been scheduled for April 8, according to county jail records.
