Anthony Newton was sentenced after a yearslong case tied to jealousy, missing remains and multiple trials.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Anthony Newton, 46, was sentenced to life in prison without parole after prosecutors said he killed Ulyses “Cesar” Molina in 2016, dismembered his body and scattered remains across the Las Vegas area.

The sentence closed the main case against Newton nearly 10 years after Molina was killed around Christmas 2016. A Clark County jury convicted Newton in February of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree kidnapping. Prosecutors said the killing was driven by anger over Molina’s relationship with Newton’s wife while Newton was in prison.

District Judge Jacqueline Bluth imposed the sentence Tuesday at the Regional Justice Center after hearing about Newton’s past and the facts of the killing. Newton had faced a case that moved through several trials before a jury returned a conviction. Chief Deputy District Attorney Bill Flinn described the crime in court as unusually brutal. “It takes a different kind of horrific mentality to do something like that to another human being,” Flinn said at sentencing. Bluth told Newton she understood he had endured hardship as a child, but said the court had to weigh the danger he posed after two killings appeared in his history.

Court records said Newton and his brother-in-law, George Malaperdas, attacked Molina at an apartment and tied him with shoestrings. A witness told police Newton used his foot to press on Molina’s neck until Molina stopped moving. Prosecutors said Newton then had Malaperdas help move Molina into a bathroom, where Molina’s clothing was removed and his body was wrapped in a bedspread. The records said the men later dismembered Molina. Newton’s lawyers disputed parts of the state’s case over the years, but jurors found him guilty after hearing evidence that prosecutors said showed a planned attack tied to revenge.

Molina’s remains were found in separate places. Authorities said part of his burned and dismembered body was discovered Dec. 28, 2016, in a vacant lot near Lake Mead and Lamb in northeast Las Vegas. Investigators later identified the remains through DNA. Police never found Molina’s head. In 2018, while Newton was in custody awaiting trial, a Henderson woman found a human hand in her mailbox. Police later determined the hand belonged to Molina. Prosecutors said investigators could not explain how the hand ended up there or whether the woman’s home had any known link to Molina, Newton or the others charged in the case.

The killing was tied to a personal dispute that prosecutors said grew while Newton was incarcerated. Molina had been involved with Newton’s wife, Jami Malaperdas, according to court filings and testimony described in court. Prosecutors said Molina was lured to the apartment on Christmas Day 2016 and confronted there. Malaperdas, the brother of Newton’s wife, later pleaded guilty in 2020 to second-degree murder. Kelsea Wray Glass, who was described in earlier proceedings as a woman connected to both Newton and Molina, also pleaded guilty in the case. The exact terms of some pleas were sealed in court records.

The case moved slowly through Clark County courts. Newton went to trial in 2024, but Bluth declared a mistrial after a witness told jurors Newton had been in prison. At a later trial, jurors could not reach a verdict. In February 2026, another jury convicted Newton after prosecutors again argued that he set up Molina, helped restrain him and caused his death by crushing his neck. Prosecutors had earlier pursued the case as a possible death penalty matter, but the capital phase was no longer at issue when the February conviction led to sentencing.

Newton’s criminal record was also part of the sentencing picture. He had previously served prison time for killing Deborah Harvey in Henderson in 1996 when he was a teenager. In that case, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Relatives connected to both Harvey and Molina were present for the sentencing, according to court accounts. Molina’s sister, Celina Gonzalez, told the judge her brother was not perfect but was loved by his family. “He was a great son, he was a great dad,” Gonzalez said. The hearing put both cases before the court as Bluth weighed whether Newton should ever be released.

Currently, Malaperdas remains scheduled to be sentenced June 16. Newton’s life-without-parole sentence means he will not be eligible for release in Molina’s killing. Police have not recovered all of Molina’s remains, and the route that led one of his hands to a Henderson mailbox remains publicly unexplained.

Author note: Last updated May 26, 2026.