Police say a dispute over where to raise a 2-year-old child turned fatal inside a central Las Vegas home.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A Nevada man was jailed without bail after police said he strangled his wife during an early morning argument over whether their young daughter would be raised in Cuba or the United States.

Roelmer Sanchez-Garrido, 38, faces an open murder charge in the death of Vanesa Rodrigues-Valdes, who was found inside a home on Esmeralda Avenue near West Sahara Avenue after a 911 call shortly after 3 a.m. April 28. The case moved from a medical response to a homicide investigation within minutes, after first responders saw bruising on the woman’s face and neck and called police to the home.

The call came from Sanchez-Garrido himself, according to the arrest report cited by police and local stations. He first asked for medical help for an injured wife, then told dispatchers she was not breathing. When Las Vegas Fire and Rescue paramedics arrived, they found Sanchez-Garrido in the front yard, pacing with the couple’s 2-year-old daughter. Inside, Rodrigues-Valdes was on the floor with a blanket covering her face and body. Paramedics removed the blanket and saw what they described as early signs of rigor mortis and bruising. She was pronounced dead at 3:17 a.m. Police Lt. Robert Price said the couple had argued before “it turned physical, resulting in the death of his wife.”

The argument described by police centered on the family’s future. Investigators said Sanchez-Garrido told an officer that he and Rodrigues-Valdes had been fighting about whether she would take their daughter back to Cuba. One neighbor told investigators Rodrigues-Valdes wanted to return to Cuba to raise the child, while Sanchez-Garrido wanted the family to remain in the United States so he could continue working and earn more money. Another neighbor told police that Rodrigues-Valdes had asked for help hiding the family’s passports earlier that day so Sanchez-Garrido could not get access to them. That same neighbor said the couple worked together and that the dispute had been growing before the fatal encounter.

Police said a second neighbor gave investigators another part of the night’s timeline. That neighbor reported waking around 2 a.m. to banging at a window and seeing Sanchez-Garrido outside a security gate. The neighbor did not open the gate but spoke with him. According to the arrest report, Sanchez-Garrido handed over two containers filled with jewelry and phone numbers for two family members. The neighbor told police Sanchez-Garrido said he had done something “very bad” and asked the neighbor to call 911. Investigators also reviewed video from exterior cameras at the neighbor’s home, which the neighbor said showed Sanchez-Garrido appearing at the property twice that morning.

At police headquarters, Sanchez-Garrido again described the dispute over Cuba and the couple’s daughter, investigators said. He told detectives Rodrigues-Valdes said she was leaving while their daughter slept. During the argument, police said, he became upset, grabbed her by the throat and squeezed. Sanchez-Garrido said he did not remember what happened next, then saw Rodrigues-Valdes had stopped breathing and had fallen to the ground. Police said he told detectives he tried CPR but could not revive her. He also said he took a blanket from the couch and covered her body so their daughter would not see what had happened to her mother.

The police report also points to signs that Rodrigues-Valdes had been preparing for a break in the relationship before the killing. A neighbor told investigators that on April 21, Rodrigues-Valdes secretly recorded Sanchez-Garrido during an argument and said she wanted to end the relationship. Police have not said publicly what was captured on that recording, whether detectives recovered it or whether it will become evidence in court. Officials also have not released a full public account of the child’s current placement or what family members have been notified. The Clark County coroner was expected to handle the formal finding on cause and manner of death.

Sanchez-Garrido made an initial court appearance the next day, where a judge found probable cause for his arrest and ordered him held without bail. Telemundo Las Vegas reported that he used a Spanish-language interpreter during the hearing. Open murder in Nevada allows prosecutors to pursue different levels of homicide depending on the evidence as a case moves forward. Court records cited by local outlets showed a follow-up appearance scheduled for May 4. Police said homicide detectives took over the investigation after officers arrived at the Esmeralda Avenue home and determined the death was suspicious.

The home sits in a central Las Vegas neighborhood not far from Sahara Avenue and Arville Street, an area of apartment complexes, small homes and busy commercial roads. The killing left neighbors as both witnesses and sources of key evidence, from the alleged passport conversation to the early morning contact outside the security gate. Their accounts gave investigators a timeline that began before the 911 call and showed the argument was not limited to a single moment. The most visible sign of the case in court was Sanchez-Garrido’s custody status: no bail while prosecutors prepared the murder charge.

As of May 22, Sanchez-Garrido remained identified by police as the only suspect publicly named in the case. The next milestones are the release of any additional coroner findings and further court proceedings in Clark County, where prosecutors will decide how to advance the open murder charge.

Author note: Last updated May 22, 2026.