Las Vegas, known for its glitz and glamour, is no stranger to scandalous headlines. Recently, the news of a gruesome murder involving a prostitute and a hotel guest has shocked the city.
Larissa Garcia, a 30-year-old prostitute, was found dead after a reported $2K sex session with hotel guest Jason Kendall, 35. The details surrounding her death are both tragic and disturbing.
According to reports, Larissa was strangled to death during her encounter with Kendall. The motive behind the murder remains unclear, but speculation and rumors have been circulating throughout the city.
‘Jason said Larissa requested additional payment and he ‘snapped,” documents said. ‘He hit her in the face and ‘choked’ her for ‘ten minutes’ and ‘then had sex with her.’ After having sex with Larissa, Jason wrote he ‘dragged her away from the door and left.’ He told cops that after leaving the hotel he called 911 to report an overdose.
Kendall allegedly confessed to choking Garcia on June 12. He is now being held in custody without bail, and faces charges of open murder, sexual assault, and battery.
An anonymous caller, who has now been identified as Kendall, called 911 and reported an overdose inside a hotel room.
Security responded to the call and found Garcia on the floor with a cut on her jaw.
First responders were under the impression Garcia was overdosing, so Metro police were not initially called to the scene.
Paramedics brought Garcia to Spring Valley Hospital. Doctors did not detect alcohol or drugs in her blood, immediately weeding out overdose as a possible cause of death.
Instead, doctors suspected Garcia was a victim of battery based on her sustained injuries.
‘Upon further inspection… it looks like she was assaulted,’ the nurse told the dispatcher about 15 minutes after Garcia arrived at the hospital. ‘We thought it was an overdose, but she is not responding to Narcan or any of those drugs.’
‘Do we have any suspect information at all?’ the dispatcher asked the nurse.
‘No, no one was there, and like I said, it was an unknown caller, an anonymous caller,’ the nurse said.
Garcia was declared brain dead and died at the hospital one week after the incident at the Palms.
Police found out that the room reservation was placed by Kendall. They then met the suspect at a different hotel, where he declined to provide information without the presence of an attorney.
Six days after the initial incident at the Palms, a nurse specializing in sexual assault trauma reported that Garcia had been strangled and ‘possibly suffocated.’
Surveillance footage from the Palms shows Kendall meeting Garcia in the lobby around 4 p.m. An hour later, Kendall is seen leaving the hotel alone.
Detectives later located messages between Kendall and Garcia and a web history of Kendall viewing Garcia’s escort advertisement, documents said.
Garcia was a single mother of two, her friends told 8News. In a GoFundMe organized by her friends, she is described as ‘a bright light in all of our lives, full of love and laughter.’
‘We want to make sure that Larissa has the beautiful and dignified farewell she deserves. One that reflects the love and joy she brought to the world,’ the description read.
May her soul rest in peace, and may her tragic death serve as a wake-up call for those who frequent the city’s temptations. Las Vegas may be the city of sin, but that doesn’t mean we must succumb to its darker temptations.
Flip to the next page for the footage and Larissa Garcia’s pictures…
