Officers in Palmdale on ?? ??? ??June 1 arrested two suspects in connection with the murder of a woman in the northwest part of Las Vegas, according to KVVU-TV.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it assisted in the arrests when LAPD officers pursued four men who crashed their car and fled in Palmdale. They were taken into custody without incident.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police identified the suspects as 18-year-old Kamari Collins and a 17-year-old juvenile. LVMP detectives went to Palmdale immediately to begin the extradition process.
Clark County medical examiners identified the 60-year-old victim, who died from a gunshot wound to the chest, as Sheri Aoyagi, a United Airlines flight attendant.
On May 30 at about 3:25 p.m. LVMPD patrol officers were dispatched to a residence
located in the 6400 block of Morley Avenue, near Smoke Ranch Road and Torrey Pines Drive, to investigate reports that a woman had been shot. Arriving officers located Aoyagi and medical personnel declared her deceased at the scene. The victims’ house had been ransacked.
At the time, the suspects could only be described as black male adults, possibly in their 20s, and the vehicle was described as a white Chrysler 300. The suspect vehicle was later found unoccupied in the 6600 block of West Washington Avenue.
According to a Go Fund Me page established in Aoyagi’s memory: “Sheri Aoyagi and her husband Stan Aoyagi pulled up to their home after they had went out for lunch. Sheri got out of their car and walked to the passenger side to help her disabled husband Stan get out of the car. As she did so she was gunned down by robbers that had robbed her home. Gunfire sprayed through the car and Sheri died at her husband’s feet.
“We all love and miss Sheri dearly. We are hoping to ease some of her husband Stan’s financial problems as he not only lost the love of his life but he also lost his caregiver and much needed income. Stan is a disabled veteran and is in a wheelchair. At this time he is so lost without Sheri he’s not thinking of much, but we know that he needs help. We know that their home is in need of many improvements so he can get around in his wheelchair by himself. He will also need basic care …
“When we think about Sheri, all we can think of is how selfless she was. Everyone that met her loved her. She would help anyone and has cared for so many of our rescue dogs.”
Aoyagi, a Cincinnati native who was nearing retirement, married her husband, a U.S. Army veteran, in 1999. She amassed hundreds of hours volunteering at A Home 4 Spot animal rescue for almost three years. The couple did not have children.
“My life is just so empty,” Stan Aoyagi told KTNV-TV. “It’s kinda like I don’t know what to do … It’s just so hard because I loved her so much. I built my life around her.”
Services were held on June 8 at St. Barnabas the Apostle Catholic Church.