Murder suspect accused of eating part of victim's face after homicide near Las Vegas Strip
Police are investigating the gruesome killing in downtown Las Vegas in which a 29-year-old man is accused of attacking another person along city streets and, according to court documents, eating part of the victim's face.
Colin Ichiro Czech was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on Sunday in connection to the slaying that morning along Las Vegas Boulevard, according to information from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
A criminal complaint obtained by USA TODAY Wednesday identified the homicide victim as Kenneth Brown.
The victim's cause and manner of death, will be released by the Clark County Coroner’s Office following an autopsy, police said.
According to the complaint, Czech punched and struck Brown, causing Brown's head to strike the concrete subsequently killing him.
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7-11 employee dialed 911 after seeing man attack customer
In a news release, police said officers responded about 4:45 a.m. Sunday after dispatch received a report of a physical altercation between a suspect and another man in front of a business along South Las Vegas Boulevard.
The area is near the Haunted Museum just north of the famous Little White Wedding Chapel.
According to court papers, a witness dialed 911 and reported a suspect attacked a male customer and "tackled him to the ground" in the 7-11 parking lot. The suspect was "banging his head on the concrete," screaming and appeared paranoid, police wrote in the documents.
About 45 minutes later, the report continues, someone dialed 911 again to report the same suspect was on top of another man at a nearby bus stop “eating the face of the male on the ground."
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Victim was missing eye, ear
Shortly after, arriving officers found the suspect and the victim at the bus stop, and said the victim − later identified as Brown, was unresponsive and bleeding from the head.
According to court papers, officers saw the suspect, identified as Czech, kneeling next to Brown with “biological matter in his hair, mouth and on his clothing."
When the officers questioned Czech at the scene, he said the victim attacked him, police wrote.
Brown was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, police wrote.
Court papers reveal he suffered a large cut to his head and was missing an eye and an ear.
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Suspect said something was 'possessing him'
After being arrested and taken into custody, court documents reveal detectives asked Czech what he used to hurt the victim and Czech reportedly responded, "my teeth." Czech also told detectives "he used his teeth to eat" the man's eyeballs and ears.
The document goes on to say Czech “was going in and out of consciousness" and told officers he is unhoused and was awake for “five days straight” at the time of the attack because something was "possessing him." Voices in his head, police wrote, told him to kill a person named "Drake" − a man he said he did not know.
Clark County Justice Court records show Czech remained jailed without bond Wednesday after appearing in court for his first appearance before a judge.
Anyone with any information about the case is asked to contact Las Vegas police or Crime Stoppers.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.