by: Brian Nordli
The night before Sheila Linke disappeared, she sent her supervisor an instant message that proved to be prophetic.
“I’m evicting my roommates and I might have to use vacation tomorrow because it is ugly, hopefully I won’t need to, I will let you know how things progress,” the message read on Jan. 26.
Linke, 53, never showed up at her job with the Las Vegas Water District’s Water Reclamation Office. Instead, on Tuesday – nearly three weeks after co-workers reported Linke’s disappearance – Metro Police found her body buried in the Mojave County, Ariz., desert. Today, one of her roommates, Edward Kopp, 52, was charged in Las Vegas Township Justice Court with one cout of murder with use of a deadly weapon.
A Metro arrest report said Kopp, in the presence of his attorney, confessed Tuesday and told police the following details:
Kopp said Linke told him he and his girlfriend had to move out of Linke’s house in the 5600 block of Island Breeze Court to make room for Linke’s nephew and his three children.
On Jan. 26, Linke had yelled at Kopp and his girlfriend, telling them she was going to pack their belongings. Kopp told his girlfriend to stay in the bedroom and then met with Linke in the kitchen.
Kopp claimed Linke had a knife and the two fought. Kopp kicked Linke in the chest, punched her in the face and tried to choke her with his hands. After she got up again, Kopp said he wrapped a nylon cord around Linke’s neck and put a plastic trash bag over her head until she died.
Kopp and his girlfriend put Linke’s body in the bed of Kopp’s pickup truck, then stacked camping gear around her body. They drove to a bar on West Sahara Avenue and had a couple of drinks. From there, they drove into the desert near White Hills, Ariz., to bury Linke’s body.
Kopp’s girlfriend shared a similar story with police but said she never saw a knife near Linke, nor did Kopp tell her she had a knife.
Kopp was booked into the Clark County Detention Center.
Source: lasvegassun
