A Bullhead City, Arizona couple has been charged with first-degree murder after police say they planned and carried out the stabbing death of a registered sex offender in the desert.
Jacob Middlebrook, 35, and his girlfriend, Layne McIntosh, 36, were initially arrested on second-degree homicide charges in the death of 29-year-old Arron Christopher Warren. Bullhead City Police announced the arrests on social media. The charges were upgraded to first-degree homicide on Monday.
A motorist found Warren’s body on the side of the road in the 3100 block of Silver Creek Road on Saturday. Detectives responded after the circumstances surrounding the death appeared suspicious and treated it as a homicide investigation.
Warren was identified as a Bullhead City “transient” and a registered Level 2 sex offender. Investigators soon identified a possible suspect and discovered that Warren’s vehicle was missing from the scene.
Las Vegas Metro Police later helped locate the missing vehicle parked at a casino in Laughlin, Nevada. Middlebrook and McIntosh were taken into custody there and booked into the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas. They are being held pending extradition to Mohave County, Arizona.
Police say Middlebrook and McIntosh were also local transients who had known Warren for several months.
“Detectives discovered that the couple had expressed distaste for registered sex offenders and had planned the homicide in advance,” Bullhead City police said.
According to police, the couple had picked out the desert location where they intended to leave Warren’s body ahead of time. They had also reportedly measured furniture or beds large enough to conceal the body along the roadside.
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Bullhead City Police Chief Paul George said the department regularly alerts the public when certain registered sex offenders move into the area or change addresses, but warned against using that information to target people.
“I will not tolerate anyone using this information as a reason to threaten, intimidate, harass or harm another person,” George said.
George explained the department’s notification process in a statement: “When a Level 2 or Level 3 sex offender moves into our area or, more commonly, changes addresses, the Bullhead City Police Department shares that information as a public service to help keep residents informed. While required notifications are mailed to residents living within an approximate 1,000 feet radius of an offender’s registered address, we go a step further by sharing these notifications on social media to reach a broader audience. Our goal is to provide information, not create fear or alarm. We believe an informed community is a safer community.”
He added that the department’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations conducts monthly address verification checks to ensure registered sex offenders comply with registration requirements. “Our responsibility is to protect our community, keep residents informed and to enforce the law. We take all three of these seriously,” George said.
