Remains of missing Las Vegas man found in Arizona desert
The remains of a 62-year-old man whose suspicious disappearance last October prompted a Las Vegas police homicide investigation have been found in a desert area in Arizona.
David Rathbun of Las Vegas was reported missing just before 5:45 a.m. on Oct. 16, 2017, his family told police they had not heard from him for a month. Metropolitan Police Department detectives determined that several ATM withdrawals were made from Rathbun’s bank accounts after his disappearance.
Rathbun’s remains were found Aug. 6 in a remote desert area in Dolan Springs, Arizona, near the Nevada border, according to the Mohave County medical examiner’s office. He was positively identified on Aug. 17. His cause and manner of death were pending Thursday morning.
In late December, then-Metro homicide Lt. Dan McGrath told the Review-Journal that Rathbun had been included in the department’s 2017 homicide count. His death was the 129th homicide investigated by Metro at the time, according to Review-Journal records.
In June, Metro released the identities of three persons of interest linked to Rathbun’s disappearance. Charles Ausiello, 55, and Jolene Hibbs, 45, are wanted on several outstanding felony arrest warrants for forgery, fraud and grand larceny in connection with the activity in Rathbun’s bank accounts after he was reported missing.
A third person of interest is suspected of making withdrawals from Rathbun’s account at a Wells Fargo near Boulder Highway and Indios Road, police said in June. The thinly built, bearded white man, who has not been named, was last seen wearing a flat-billed hat and a blue long-sleeved shirt.
Ausiello and Hibbs also are known to frequent the Boulder Highway corridor. Homicide Lt. Ray Spencer said Thursday that police still are searching for them.
Anyone with information may call Metro’s homicide section at 702-828-3521 or Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.
