Homicide suspect planned to use axe, garbage disposal to get rid of bodies

May 08, 2024

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The man accused of killing three people at an apartment complex in the west part of the valley told police he was originally going to get rid of the bodies by using an axe to chop them up and put them in the garbage disposal.

That's according to new grand jury documents that were released this week.

The incident happened last month at an apartment complex near West Flamingo Avenue and Fort Apache Road. Police said two people were found dead in an apartment by maintenance workers who were performing a welfare check. That's when Spencer McDonald is accused of attacking and killing a maintenance man and then running away. He was caught by police not long after that.

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According to a detective with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, McDonald said he lived at the complex with his grandmother, Dina Vail, and her boyfriend, Andrew Graden. McDonald told the officer he killed the two a few days before he was discovered. He said he entered her bedroom with a cosplay sword and a large Mercer kitchen knife. He said he gave his grandmother "a number of whacks" with the sword. He said he then took the kitchen knife, put it through her skull, and "made a comment to us about how surprised he was how long the body continues to move after."

Grand jury documents state the detective said McDonald then waited for Graden, who McDonald repeatedly called the "victim of sex trafficking", although police said there was no evidence to back up that claim. When Graden arrived at the apartment, McDonald told officers he "whacked" Graden in the head several times with a CrossFit mace, which police described as "a steel pole with a metal weight welded to the end of it." He then took a kitchen knife and stabbed Graden several times in the torso. Documents state McDonald told detectives he dragged Graden's body into the same bedroom with Vail.

McDonald said he lived with the bodies for several days and he said he "didn't get around" to disposing of their bodies but his plan was to "chop them up with an axe and put them in the garbage disposal, but then he realized that was probably going to be a little bit more work than he planned on."

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Vail taught at a local dance studio and whenever she didn't show up for class, a friend stopped by the apartment. When no one answered the door and other family members hadn't heard from her, he said he requested a welfare check. Several maintenance men responded.

One of them took the stand and told the grand jury they knocked on the window and front door but nobody answered so they decided to open the door. However, the maintenance men agreed that "it smelled like something different" and saw a "big spot covered with two bags" in the master bedroom as well as blood on the wall.

He said he thought something was off so he told fellow maintenance worker Chris Brassard that they should leave and call the police. That's when he said he heard Brassard scream so the man started running and said something hit him in the back. The man said Brassard wasn't able to escape the apartment but he made it to the leasing office and told the secretary to call 911. The worker said he had to get multiple stitches in his back after being stabbed and now walks with a cane.

According to grand jury documents, detectives asked McDonald why he killed the three and that he "just kind of described it as putting them out of their misery, as an honorable deed, and then didn't give any other clarification or justification as to why."

McDonald is facing three open murder charges and one attempted murder charge. He's currently in custody at the Clark County Detention Center. He has a warrant hearing scheduled for Sept. 28.

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