For the past two weeks, Las Vegas authorities have been trying to connect one slaying in Las Vegas and another in California to occult rituals or Satanism.
According to a Las Vegas police search warrant, police are examining whether Brookey Lee West -- a suspect in the slayings of her mother and husband -- could have relied in part on books about the occult or Satanism to carry out the crimes.
Plastic found on the bodies of West's mother and her husband could be related to an occult or Satanic ritual aimed at keeping victims "from repeating secrets," according to the warrant.
West, 46, is charged with murder in Las Vegas in the death of her mother, Christine Smith. The 68-year-old's liquefied remains were found sealed in a large trash bin at a southwest Las Vegas storage shed in February.
West has never been charged in the slaying of her husband, Howard Simon St. John, but authorities still consider her a suspect. He was found shot to death in a California forest in 1994.
The Review-Journal on Thursday obtained a copy of a Las Vegas police affidavit seeking a search warrant in the Smith case. The document was filed May 23 in District Court.
In the affidavit and search warrant, Las Vegas police homicide Detective Dave Mesinar wrote that both Smith and St. John had plastic pulled over their heads. Smith had plastic tied around her nose and mouth, while plastic was found on top of St. John's head, the warrant states.
Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Frank Coumou confirmed Thursday that authorities are investigating the occult angle in the deaths, but Coumou said no direct connections between the slayings and the occult have been made so far.
He said, however, that the discovery of volumes of books about Satanism and witchcraft in the storage shed where Smith's body was found warrants the probe.
"It is something worth looking into," Coumou said, adding that authorities have a responsibility to see "if there is something to tie (these two deaths) together."
West's attorney, Clark County Special Public Defender Scott Coffee, portrayed the efforts of police and prosecutors as a fishing expedition aimed at sullying his client.
"They have to try to come up with something flashy because there is not much evidence," Coffee said of the criminal case against West.
At the time Smith's body was found, police found a variety of books pertaining to the occult in the storage shed. The books were photographed, but not officially taken into police custody.
Some of the books are titled "The Satanic Rituals," "The Great Beast" and "Necronomicon." Also found next to the body were the Bible and a book called "Jews for Jesus."
In his affidavit for the warrant, Mesinar sought and received approval to gather the books for further examination.
The detective's motivation in doing so, according to the affidavit, was a conversation Clark County district attorney's office investigator Pete Baldonado had with a woman who is an "employee of a local store of the occult."
The woman, identified only as "Angie," told Baldonado that she is knowledgeable on rituals pertaining to witchcraft and Satanism. The store where she works was not identified in the affidavit.
"Angie stated that placing plastic over a victim's face is a symbolic act to keep that victim from repeating secrets," the affidavit states. "In speaking with Angie, investigator Baldonado learned that the book entitled `Necronomicon' deals with ritualistic deaths."
Coumou said the books were retrieved and they contained no specific references to placing plastic over a victim's face.
Still, Coumou said police have not given up on trying to connect West's case to the occult.
"It (placing plastic over a victim's face) may not be something written in stone," Coumou said. "It could be something passed on by word of mouth."
Coumou said he has not made a decision on whether he will try to present details of the literature or any occult theory during West's July murder trial.
Coffee said he believes any such evidence would be irrelevant to Smith's death and therefore inadmissable.
Coffee also ridiculed authorities' attempts to connect the plastic found in the Smith and St. John cases to the occult. The attorney said he has researched the issue on the Internet and has not found any details of such a belief.
"You can find the price of marbles in Tibet on the Internet, but I cannot find anything about plastic over the face," Coffee said.
The origins of "Necronomicon" actually stem from writings by fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft, who mentioned the supposed book of evil spells and rituals in his writings in the early 1920s.
That has translated into numerous hoax books claiming to be the actual book that Lovecraft mentioned, said Jason Williams, owner of San Francisco-based Night Shade Books publishing company.
Williams said the title "Necronomicon" is believed to translate into "An Image or a Picture of the Laws of the Dead."
Night Shade actually published a book entitled "The Necronomicon Files," which attempts to debunk any claim that "Necronomicon" is an authentic work.
Still, Williams said the book has been adopted by countless people as an authentic guide for casting spells and carrying out evil rituals.
"It has been adopted by what I call the shopping mall occultists," Williams said.