DNA, fingerprints lead to man’s arrest over 20 years after Las Vegas-area woman’s stabbing death
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — DNA and fingerprints led to the arrest of a man more than 20 years after he allegedly stabbed a woman to death, according to an arrest report.
Police arrested Ricky Lee Trader, 47, on July 16 on a charge of open murder, records showed.
On Sept. 4, 2003, Henderson police responded to the 200 block of Gold Street, near Water Street and East Lake Mead Boulevard, after a report of a woman, identified as Theresa Romano, deceased inside a bedroom.
The person who called 911 said he was a friend of Romano and was checking on her when he found her on the floor. When officers arrived, they found Romano covered up with a comforter and a large amount of blood near her face. She was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Romano rented the residence and had been living there for about a month. Police said the inside of the home was “very dirty and in complete disarray,” with bags of trash on the floor and dirty dishes covering the counters in the kitchen, documents said.
Police said there was blood in multiple areas in the bedroom indicating that Romano was possibly in a struggle with someone before her death, the report said.
When police moved her body, they found a red pair of bloody scissors underneath her. Police determined that the scissors were used to stab Romano in the neck.
Nearly two weeks after her death, police arrested a woman on non-related charges. While she was in custody, she asked to speak to detectives regarding Romano’s murder.
She told detectives that she and Trader were friends and he would go to her house to get drugs from her. One night, a couple of days before Trader killed a man named Robert Wittwer, Trader showed up at her house looking very upset and mumbling, “There was blood all over the place and she wouldn’t shut up.” Trader then told her, “I’ve got to get her off my mind, I’ve made a mess, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” the report said.
Trader kept telling the woman that she wouldn’t stop wiggling and when she asked him what wouldn’t stop wiggling he said, “The fingers.” As he continued to talk he kept saying there was so much blood and “She wouldn’t shut up, she wouldn’t shut up. I had to cut the [expletive],” police said.
The woman became uneasy and asked Trader to leave. Trader asked for some drugs, and when the woman said, “No,” he grabbed her by the throat and said “You don’t understand. I don’t know why; I don’t know why,” before taking the drugs she had off her dresser and leaving, the report said.
On Feb. 24, 2004, police obtained results from latent fingerprint processing of items at the crime scene. Trader’s fingerprints were found on several of the items including soda cans, the blade of a figure skate, and a table lamp, according to the report.
On September 1, 2010, detectives went to Ely State Prison to speak to Trader, who was incarcerated for the murder of Wittwer. Trader told the detectives that he knew Romano and they engaged in casual sex on a couple of occasions. He said that the night of her murder detectives contacted him and took a DNA sample from him but he never heard anything after, the report said.
He said the last time he saw Romano was at a local casino and she was with another man. The three of them went back to Romano’s place where he stayed until 9:30 p.m. before taking her bicycle and leaving because she wouldn’t give him a ride, police said.
When asked about the statements made by the woman in 2003, he said that she was a liar and made things up.
The investigation continued for several years but no further evidence was found that positively identified Trader as the suspect in Romano’s death, documents said.
In 2021, the case was reviewed by the cold case homicide unit. In October, detectives submitted a request to have additional evidence tested that was never tested including the scissors found underneath Romano and a phone cord. The swabs for potential DNA were booked into the Henderson police evidence vault until they were sent to LVMPD’s Forensic Laboratory for processing on Jan. 25, 2024.
When the forensic lab received the request, they requested to further process some of the evidence that was previously tested, including Romano’s fingernail clippings and her underwear.
On May 21, the results from LVMPD Forensic Laboratory’s report showed that Trader’s DNA was found underneath Romano’s fingernails and in her underwear, police said.
On July 16, detectives contacted Trader, who was paroled in 2021 and was living in Reno. Trader denied killing Romano and denied having a sexual relationship or knowing her, despite saying that he did in the 2010 interview with detectives.
Trader was arrested and taken to the Washoe County Detention Center. He was transported to the Henderson Detention Center on July 22 where he was booked on open murder. He was scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.
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