Deborah Flores-Narvaez: Death of a Showgirl

Jason Griffith

Later that same day, at 11:50 p.m., Griffith left work following a performance of Cirque du Soleil's The Beatles LOVE show at The Mirage. Detectives were waiting for him. They approached him and asked if he would be willing to accompany them to their office to answer some additional questions they had about Flores-Narvaez's disappearance, and assured him that he was not under arrest at that time, according to police reports. Nonetheless, Griffith brought up the fact that his Miranda rights had not been read to him, prompting one of the detectives to say that he would be happy to read Griffith his Miranda rights prior to investigators asking him any questions. While en route to their offices, Griffith called and left a message for his attorney and explained what was going on.

Prior to questioning, one of the detectives read Griffith his Miranda rights, after which he signed and initialed a card indicating that he understood those rights. At first, Griffith denied having anything to do with Deborah Flores Narvaez's death. He admitted, however, that he had rented a U-Haul truck, but said he had done so in order to pick up a punching bag stand from a location in northwest Las Vegas. When they confronted him about having driven the truck to Henderson, he claimed that he had gone there to pick up additional work-out equipment from a friend's house. However, he refused to name the friend. He told the detectives that he was in possession of the truck's keys at all times except when Louis Colombo drove the truck to pick up the punching bag stand while Griffith provided driving directions.

When they asked him specific questions related to Flores-Narvaez's death and the disposal of her remains, Griffith told the investigators that he didn't want to respond without the presence of his attorney. The interrogation concluded, detectives arrested Griffith in connection with Flores-Narvaez's death. Griffith was subsequently taken to the Clark County Detention Center, where he was booked and jailed.

Deborah Flores-Narvaez

During the trip to jail, Griffith continued to talk with one of the detectives and allegedly made statements that what had happened "was not a premeditated thing and that it was a heat of the moment thing that happened," according to Fox 5 Vegas. He also reportedly told the detective that Flores-Narvaez had attacked him and that he had always believed she had a gun, according to a police report. When it was agreed that no one would believe that, Griffith allegedly said that Flores-Narvaez had "forced him to do what he did." He also reportedly told the detective that "after it happened, he did all the amateurish stuff afterwards," according to a police report.

At the jail, Griffith allegedly told the detective that Louis Colombo only became involved after Flores-Narvaez was already dead, and that Colombo "really didn't know what was going on," according to the police report. When the detective offered to take Griffith's official statement, he refused. Few other details emerged at that point.

"It's a very complicated case," Lt. Lew Roberts said after the arrest. "This was a very high-profile case. We made an arrest on a suspect, and in the interest of providing a good prosecution we can't go any deeper."

Three days later, the Clark County Coroner's Office reported that Flores-Narvaez had died of asphyxiation due to neck compression and ruled her death a homicide. In other words, she had been strangled.