DECATUR — A ticket for fishing without a license led to the arrest of a man wanted for a parole violation stemming from a gruesome 1979 murder in North Las Vegas, Nev.
David Wayne Ferrell, 50, was arrested on Thursday by Decatur police for the parole violation, as well as a Benton County warrant for failure to appear in court after being ticketed for fishing without a license and giving a Game and Fish Commission officer a false name and address.
Ferrell, who had been on the run from the Nevada Department of Corrections since May, is no stranger to keeping secrets or living the life of a fugitive. His story has taken a number of bizarre twists over the years before he came to reside behind the Decatur Pawn Shop.
On Nov. 21, 1979, North Las Vegas Police were called to the home of Wilbert F. Wendeburg, a 52-year-old unemployed piano tuner, according to a 1999 article in the Las Vegas Journal Review.
Wendeburg was found barely breathing and covered in blood. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he died a short time later. An investigation revealed that he was stabbed 10 times and his throat was slashed from his chin to his collarbone, the Journal Review reported.
Wendeburg’s murder went unsolved for 20 years, until Ferrell was arrested in LongBeach, Calif., for public intoxication, in October of 1999.
At the jail, Ferrell shocked officers by saying he had killed a man in Las Vegas 20 years earlier, according to the news article. Long Beach and Las Vegas Detectives worked jointly to put the pieces together and found that Ferrell’s story checked out.
“He knew details of thecrime that only us and the bad guy would know,” North Las Vegas Police Lieutenant Chris Larotonda said in a 1999 interview with the Journal Review.
Ferrell, just 18-years-old at the time of the murder, told police he had been walking down the street when Wendeburg offered him a ride. The two went to Wendeburg’s home and Wendeburg offered Ferrell a chance to sleep on his couch, the article states.
Ferrell explained to police that Wendeburg made unwanted sexual advances, and when he refused, Wendeburg began calling him names. Ferrell confessed to detectives that he waited until Wendeburg fell asleep and then attacked him with the knife, the Journal Review reported.
“One of the reasons a 20-year-old case was solved isbecause a guy starts talking while he’s drunk,” Larotonda told the Journal Review, “I guess his conscience got to him. It’s one of the stranger things I’ve seen.”
In January of 2000, Ferrell pled guilty to charges of second-degree murder and was sentenced to five-years to life in prison, according to Steve Suwe, public information officer for the Nevada Department of Corrections.
Ferrell was released from prison on parole last January, after serving 11 years, and absconded - leaving the state in violation of his parole, Suwe said. The Nevada Department of Corrections last heard about Ferrell’s whereabouts when he was arrested on misdemeanor charges in Long Beach last April and then released with an admonishment to report back tohis parole officer in Nevada, according to Suwe. On June 2 a warrant for Ferrell’s arrest was issued.
Robert Mahmens, who owns the Decatur Pawn Shop, said Ferrell had been working for him for the past few months.
“He is a hell of a great guy,” Mahmens said, describing Ferrell as respectful, a great story teller and eager to help those in need.
Mahmens said that Ferrell returned to Arkansas because his mother had died. He had been eager to assist neighbors in need and had provided a lot of help to Mahmens’ mother, who plans to write a letter to the Nevada Parole Board asking for leniency, he said.
Mahmens was aware of the 1979 murder, but said there is more to the story, explaining that many people would probably do the same thing if they had been in Ferrell’s shoes.
Mahmens said that he hadno idea that Ferrell had “time over his head,” and said he hoped Ferrell could pay the rest of his debt to society and continue to live a productive life.
“If he were just to fall though the cracks, I would bet you would never hear from David Ferrell again,” Mahmens said.
Ferrell’s debt to society could end up being the rest of his life. He is currently being held in the Benton County Jail awaiting extradition to Nevada. It will be up to the Nevada parole board to decide whether Ferrell’s parole is reinstated or if he will stay in prison until his sentence is satisfied, Suwe said.
If Ferrell is put back in prison, he will appear before the parole board every three years, but Suwe speculated that because Ferrell absconded so quickly after he was released on parole and because he has a life sentence, it’s unlikely he will be granted parole any time soon, if ever.
News, Pages 1 on 08/31/2011