Arrest made in fatal stabbing of 2 tourists with LA group in Circus Circus hotel

KABC logo
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Arrest made in fatal stabbing of 2 tourists with LA group in Vegas hotel
(Left) The entrance to the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas is seen on Jan. 1, 2010. (Right) A February 2017 booking photo from Las Vegas police shows Julius Trotter.

LAS VEGAS (KABC) -- A man was arrested in the Los Angeles area Thursday in the Las Vegas stabbing deaths of two Vietnamese tourists who were part of a tour group out of L.A.

The two were found dead in their Circus Circus hotel room on the 21st floor of the building June 1 by Las Vegas police officers. The officers had been dispatched to the hotel to do a welfare check after the couple did not show up for a scheduled tour with the rest of the group.

MORE: Couple with LA tour group found dead in Circus Circus hotel room

A couple from Vietnam who were part of a group out of Los Angeles were found stabbed to death inside their Circus Circus hotel room in Las Vegas.

Police said the two appeared to have been stabbed multiple times.

Wednesday night, Las Vegas police identified the suspect in the case as 31-year-old Julius Trotter. The investigation led authorities to the Los Angeles area, where Trotter was arrested following a police chase, authorities said.

Las Vegas police released a booking photo Thursday of Trotter from a prior arrest in February 2017. He pleaded guilty last year in Las Vegas to felony resisting a police officer with a weapon and was sentenced to five years of probation.

One of the victims was identified by her daughter as Sang Boi Nghia. Her daughter told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that her mother owned a tour business in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and the male victim was a tour employee. Court records identified that employee as Khoung Ba Le Nguyen.

Following the killings, Circus Circus offered a $10,000 reward for information about the slayings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.