Thread: NV Man to be tried in killing of teen

Man to be tried in killing of teen

By F.T. Norton
ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com

RENO — A convicted felon and illegal immigrant twice deported from the country will be tried for the Mother's Day killing of a Carson City teen and shooting of a good Samaritan who stopped to help, a Reno judge determined Wednesday.

Reno Justice of the Peace Harold Albright determined there is enough evidence to try Victor Rodriguez, 24, for the killing of Rene Angulo, 17, and attempted murder of Wayne Nash, 51 on Highway 395 a mile outside Carson City.

Investigators believe Rodriguez shot Angulo as he drove through the valley. Rodriguez then allegedly fled to Old Highway 395 where he ditched the vehicle near Bellevue Road. He was later found by Washoe County deputies naked and hiding in the brush. According to police, Rodriguez claimed he “blacked outâ€

Mother's Day killer to be sentenced Oct. 21
October 1, 2009

by F.T. Norton

Sentencing has been continued to later this month for an illegal immigrant who pleaded guilty to killing a Carson City teen on Mother's Day in Washoe Valley.

Victor Rodriguez was to be sentenced Friday in Washoe County District Court on a count of murder and attempted murder. The hearing has been rescheduled for Oct. 21.

Rodriguez, 24, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the May 10 killing of Rene Angulo, 17, on U.S. 395 in Washoe Valley. Rodriguez also pleaded guilty to attempted murder for shooting 51-year-old Wayne Nash.

Washoe County prosecutors were considering whether to seek the death penalty when Rodriguez's lawyer offered the guilty pleas in exchange for sparing his life

Investigators suspect Rodriguez may have carjacked Angulo and shot the teen as he drove his vehicle through Washoe Valley. When Nash stopped to help what he thought was a car accident, Rodriguez shot him in the leg.

In 2004, using the name Steven Contreras, Rodriguez was convicted of accessory to murder in a 2004 killing in Carson City. He received probation on that charge.

He faces up to life in prison without parole, plus an additional 60 years when Washoe District Judge Connie Steinheimer sentences him Oct. 21.

www.nevadaappeal.com

January 3, 2010
2009 Year in Review: Mother's Day murder of Rene Angulo

The Mother's Day murder in Washoe Valley of a Carson City teen at the hands of an illegal immigrant was at once heartbreaking and stupefying.

The mystery remains to this day — how did convicted felon and twice deported gang member Victor Rodriguez, aka Steven Contreras, 24, end up in the car of a stranger, 17-year-old Rene Angulo, on that May morning?

Rodriguez initially denied his guilt and seemed poised to offer an insanity defense, especially after officers found him naked and babbling in a field not far from the shooting. But ultimately he pleaded guilty to killing Rene and shooting good Samaritan Wayne Nash, an engineer and assistant Carson High girls' basketball coach, who stopped in the valley to help.

Even at his sentencing, Rodriguez played the tough-guy card, and did not answer any of the burning questions. “You can give me a million years. I'm not gonna beg for mercy,â€