Jason Kendall, aged 35, surrendered himself to Las Vegas police, where he allegedly admitted to the strangulation and sexual assault of Larissa Garcia, aged 30, in a hotel room. According to authorities, Kendall anonymously called emergency services to report Garcia’s overdose, leading to the discovery of her unresponsive state in a hotel on West Flamingo Road. She later succumbed to her injuries on June 21.
The arrest report indicated that Kendall had initially declined to cooperate with law enforcement and had requested legal representation. However, police noted injuries on Kendall’s back and shoulder upon his arrest on June 28. He subsequently confessed to paying Garcia $2,000 for services but claimed he became violent when she requested additional payment, striking her and strangling her for approximately ten minutes.
Kendall currently remains in custody at the Clark County Detention Center, facing charges including open murder, sexual assault, and battery by strangulation. It is not yet clear whether he has entered a plea or retained legal counsel. Garcia, remembered as a single mother, leaves behind two children, with a GoFundMe campaign established to assist her family with funeral expenses.
The fundraiser, organized by Dawn Brown, has garnered over $17,500 in donations as of July 4, with mourners describing Garcia as a cherished presence lost too soon.
The arrest report states that an anonymous person — later identified as Kendall — called 911 on June 12 to report that a woman was overdosing and that he was no longer with her, according to KSNV. Hotel security found the woman wearing only underwear and with a cut on her jawline, but police were not immediately called to the scene due to the possible overdose.
She was then taken to the hospital by paramedics. There, she had a toxicology screening, which found that she had no drugs or alcohol in her system, according to the report cited by KSNV.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the arrest report claims that police learned the room was registered to Kendall, who had planned to meet with Garcia, a sex worker, at the hotel.
Surveillance footage from the hotel allegedly showed Kendall meeting Garcia in the lobby around 4 p.m. local time on June 12 and leaving a room alone about an hour later, according to court documents also obtained by 8 News Now. Nobody else was seen entering or leaving the room until hotel security arrived.
