A woman has been arrested in the May stabbing of her longtime boyfriend.
INTERACTIVE MAP: Murders investigated in the Las Vegas valley in 2018
According to court records, 24-year-old Rodesha Jones has been charged with murder and domestic battery in the incident May 26 in the 5000 block of Eldora Avenue, near Sahara Avenue and Decatur Boulevard. Her boyfriend, Mario Scanga, died of his injuries on June 5.
In Jones' arrest report, she told police that it was initially an accidental stabbing. She said she was outside smoking when her boyfriend came up to her with a knife in his chest. She then told police she brought him inside where he collapsed in the kitchen and she removed the knife.
According to the report, Jones then exited the apartment through the back window with her children and called 911 at a neighboring apartment. She told police that she went out the back window since she didn't want her kids to see Scanga in that condition.
She also told police Scanga kept saying "Tweety," referring to an associate of his and a known gang member. Jones said they were always getting into fights.
As police gathered evidence, they discovered the bloody knife on the counter matched other knives on the butcher block. They also found the only blood trail to be on the doorstep of the apartment even after canvassing the apartment complex. Police then took Jones into custody.
When Jones was being interviewed by police, she told police a new series of events. She said she, Scanga and friends had been drinking. Scanga then became irritated with the friends and wanted them to leave, starting an argument between himself and Jones.
According to the report, the friends ended up leaving and Jones went into the kitchen to cook. She was then followed by Scanga and they continued the argument in the kitchen. Jones told police that Scanga grabbed her by the arms and was shaking her while she was holding the knife in an underhand position.
She said she then accidentally stabbed her boyfriend. After this, Jones told police Scanga collapsed on the floor and she pulled out the knife and placed it on the counter.
When asked why she didn't tell police this story, Jones said "she was scared and didn't know what to do."
Doctors told police that Scanga's injuries looked like someone had stabbed him intentionally, as if they were trying to murder him, due to the knife going through cartilage, heart, diaphragm and liver.
