Henderson Police detectives are looking for additional information in connection with a child molestation case.
Detectives arrested Marlowe Fuller, 49, of Las Vegas, on Aug. 27 on a charge of sexual assault of a child under 14 years old. Fuller is accused of touching a 6-year-old girl at her Henderson home while he was there to repair an air conditioner.
During the course of the investigation, detectives discovered evidence leading them to believe there could be additional victims who have not come forward. Fuller is the owner and sole operator of SOS Repair, an air conditioning repair service and may have had access to homes with young children.
A search warrant was executed at his home and detectives found a drawer in a dresser in the master bedroom full of young girls’ underwear, skirts and girls’ bikini tops and bottoms. The clothing appeared to have been worn.
Anyone with information regarding possible victims connected to Fuller is urged to contact detectives at the Henderson Police Department.
Anyone with information in this case is urged to call the Henderson Police Department at (702) 267-4793, to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at (702) 385-5555. Tips leading to an arrest or an indictment called into Crime Stoppers may result in a cash reward.
The following is an unedited news release from the family of Steven Koecher
Henderson, Nev. – A team of nearly three dozen searchers will comb areas near the Henderson Executive Airport Saturday morning, April 10, in an effort to find Steven T. Koecher, who was last seen on Dec. 13, 2009.
Koecher’s abandoned car was found four days later in a cul-de-sac in Henderson’s Sun City Anthem area. He had traveled there from his home in St. George, Utah, but the purpose for his trip remains unknown.
A number of tips, many anonymous, have been received by police and other investigators in response to a campaign placing Koecher’s photograph on Anderson Dairy milk cartons, plus a $10,000 reward for information announced by Koecher’s family on Feb. 26. Among the clues were possible sightings at a Las Vegas Best Buy store and at a Home Depot store, a possible link to a body found by police in Sacramento, Calif., and a tip to check areas south of the Henderson Executive Airport.
Henderson Police detectives have checked many of these leads but have not been able to establish a clear link to the missing Steven Koecher. Video surveillance tapes obtained by police from Best Buy were both inconclusive and lacking in clarity. Sacramento police detectives also confirmed that the body of a young man found near that city has been positively linked to another case and is not Steven Koecher.
St. George Police detectives have also met with West Valley, Utah, Police regarding their investigation of the missing Susan Cox Powell. An examination of information in both of these cases indicates they are not connected.
Saturday’s search will begin at 8 a.m. and is expected to last about three hours. Searchers will be on foot, as well as on all-terrain vehicles. The attached image is a map of the area near the Henderson Executive Airport. The area to be searched is bounded by four yellow push pins shown on the map.
The following is a news release from the Henderson (NV) Police Department:
Henderson Police are seeking the public’s help to identify a man who robbed a convenience store earlier this month.
On March 15, about 12:30 a.m. a suspect walked into the 7-Eleven store at Valle Verde Drive and Sunset Road. The suspect spent about 10 minutes in the store asking the clerk about different beers. When the clerk brought two 12-packs of beer to the counter, the suspect pulled out a handgun and demanded money.
The clerk opened up the cash register drawers and the suspect took the money. He then took the beer and fled the store on foot.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Henderson Police Department at 267-4750. Anyone who wishes to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555. You may be eligible for a cash reward.
Steven Koecher was last seen in a neighborhood in Sun City Anthem in Henderson on December 13, 2009. The 30-year old man is from St. George, Utah. Now, thanks to the efforts of Henderson Police and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, his face will appear on milk cartons from Anderson Dairy for the next several weeks.
Henderson police have recently produced this video about Steven Koecher:
In a release emalied to local media, Koecher's mother Deanne Koecher said “We realize it has been many years since Anderson Dairy last did this, and we greatly appreciate their efforts on our behalf. We are hopeful that residents of the Las Vegas area will take notice of the milk cartons and call the police if they spot someone matching Steven’s description. The phone numbers are right on the carton.”
According to the message from Koecher's family, tips have been called in following recent stories. Employees at a restaurant near Flamingo and the Boulder Highway have reported seeing a person matching his description at least three weeks in a row, prompting this parents and extended family members recently to post a vigil at the restaurant for several nights, but the person did not show up.
“We were just grateful that someone took the time to watch for Steven,” said Deanne Koecher. “Several employees told us they’d seen this individual who looked much like Steven, but key descriptions did not match, and one of them even said she felt the mysterious customer was definitely not Steven. It is our opinion that this person looked much like Steven but that it was not him; however, we greatly appreciate the alertness of all the restaurant employees.”
Steven’s parents and extended family members combed nearby restaurants, stores and casinos while they were in Las Vegas last week, but did not find Steven. They even talked with homeless people at Las Vegas area shelters and at a few informal homeless camps around the area.
They spotted at least two young men who looked like Steven from a distance, but upon closer inspection were able to positively establish it was not their son.
“Which points out to us how difficult spotting a specific person can be, but we welcome any tips and appreciate people for trying to help, said Deanne Koecher. “We’ve even been contacted by a number of psychics with theories about his demise. We usually turn these tips over to the Henderson Police They have actually checked some of them out, but haven’t found Steven where they indicated he’d be. Even so, we are appreciative of all those who are trying to help.”
The effort was touched off after Koecher’s car had been found abandoned for four days in the Sun City Anthem area of Henderson last month. After being notified by Henderson police, Koecher’s parents, who live near Salt Lake City, immediately reported him missing and launched a private search of the neighborhoods near the abandoned vehicle. In late December, a wide air and ground search was launched by Henderson Police in tandem with Las Vegas Metro Police.
Henderson police searched in a wide radius around Sun City Anthem for two days, using police dogs and searchers on all-terrain vehicles to examine culverts, drainage basins, ditches, gullies and other rough terrain. Meanwhile, police and volunteer searchers from the Nevada Center for Missing Loved Ones, combed homes and neighborhoods, and a Las Vegas Metro helicopter searched from the air.
“They conducted an all-out effort to find Steven, but so far there hasn’t been a trace of him,” said Rolf Koecher, Steven’s father. “Surveillance cameras caught Koecher leaving his car right at noon on Sunday, Dec. 13, as if heading to an appointment, but he apparently never returned to his car.
According to the family's news release, those closest to Steven know of no alcohol, drug or similar issues, yet he vanished on a bright Sunday morning in an upscale neighborhood. He is well-liked by his many friends and associates, according to leaders of his LDS church congregation in St. George, who describe him as cheerful, the first to volunteer for service projects and always dependable. In addition, his car contained Christmas gifts for his older brother’s family, which he purchased just the evening before he disappeared.
“All this just deepens the mystery,” said Rolf Koecher. “This is a particularly difficult and confusing situation because many clues indicate he was planning to return to St. George on the day he disappeared, and none of the clues point to any particular motive or conclusion. St. George police even reported that their investigation into Steven revealed he had apparently been acting as a Good Samaritan on the Friday before he disappeared, trying to help locate the parents of two young girls accidentally locked out of their home on a cold afternoon.”
Steven’s mother, meanwhile, has expressed the family’s gratitude for the efforts that have been made to find their missing son.
“We are impressed with the intense effort expended by the Henderson and Las Vegas Metro police in finding our son, especially for the tireless work of Det. Robert McKay and his associates. We are even aware that detectives have done additional searches on their own and that a number of Las Vegas area residents whom we don’t even know have organized spontaneous searches on their own volition, as well,” said Deanne Koecher. “We are grateful that Anderson Dairy has now joined in the effort to help solve this mystery, which is very troubling and painful for us, his siblings and extended family members. We welcome any tips or clues the public may provide.”
Update on 1/22/'10: Henderson Police have identified the suspect.
This is a news release sent to Crime Tracker 3 from the Henderson (NV) Police Department:
Henderson, Nev. – The Henderson Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance for information in connection with a hit-and-run accident last week where a pedestrian was struck. A picture of the driver was captured by a witness with a cell phone.
A 15-year-old boy was riding a skateboard on Fir Street about 4:20 p.m., Jan. 12, on the left side of the roadway. He saw a car turn onto Fir Street from Center Street so he moved to the curb. The driver of the car then struck the boy and drove off. The boy was taken to an area hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.
Another teen nearby heard the accident and turned around to see the boy on the ground and the car stopped next to him. The teen took a picture of the car’s windshield with his cellular phone. The picture shows the damage to the windshield where the 15-year-old boy was stuck and the driver. Another witness said the car was a green or teal colored Nissan Altima.
The driver of the vehicle fled the scene of the accident, did not render any assistance to the victim and did not call 911. A passerby called 911.
Anyone who has information about the identity of the driver of the car is asked to contact the Henderson Police Department at 267-5099. Anyone who wishes to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555. You may be eligible for a cash reward.
We'll have some of the coolest video the Crime Tracker 3 team has shot in a long while coming up on News 3 at 5. The team went along with the Henderson Police SWAT unit as they trained on the face of the Hoover Dam. Their rapelling skills come into play in lots of unusual circumstances. They may need to descend from above to gain access to a room where a hostage crisis is unfolding... or just to place a camera on a window to look in. We combined footage shot from two different cameras and snyched up the video, so you have a look at the same action from two angles.
Eric is the "special projects" producer at News 3. That means he helps research stories, conduct interviews, write and edit stories, and respond to viewer/reader comments.
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