A Father's Nightmare - The Murder of Michelle Carson

Episode #28 - Michele Carson

[Shaun] 

Michele Carson traveled to Las Vegas with her friend Vicki, in October 2010. They came into town from West Covina, California to get together with friends. One of those friends was Michele’s ex-boyfriend, Justin Burns. 

[John] 

“We had no idea, absolutely zero idea, until it was too late,” John Carson, Michele’s father told the press after his daughter was found dead in the desert south of Las Vegas. 

[Shaun] 

Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, missing persons, and unsolved cases. I’m your host, Shaun, and with me as always, is the one and only John.

[John] 

I am the only John in the room.

[Shaun] 

The case we have this week involves an intensive police investigation & some troubling details about the admitted murderer’s downward spiral of mental health troubles. 

I’ll start by talking about Michele Carson. Michele was born on December 22, 1984 & grew up in Walnut, California. Her parents are Esther Deleon Carson and John Carson. Michele also has two older brothers, Kevin and Daniel. 

Michele graduated from Nogales High School in La Puente, California in 2003. These California cities I mentioned are in Southern California and part of the greater Los Angeles area. 

After high school, she went to Cal State Fullerton to study criminal justice. She wanted to work with at-risk youth, or in youth probation, working with kids and keeping them from falling into a life of crime. She graduated with her Bachelors in 2008. 

Michele was planning to continue her education by obtaining a Master's degree. 

Michele’s father, John, described her as being a vibrant person – full of life – confident and independent. She loved to travel and was an intelligent, goal-oriented, and exceptional person.

As I mentioned, Michele had an ex-boyfriend, Justin Burns, that she had met at Cal State Fullerton. Justin was born on August 19, 1983, so the two of them were basically the same age. Justin was originally from Las Vegas. 

[John] 

Justin’s father was Michael “Spiderman” Burns, who was one of the top players in UNLV basketball history. At the time he played for the Rebels, he was their 13th-highest all-time scorer. He played for the team from 1978-1982 and was coached by the legendary Jerry Tarkanian. 

He led the team in assists and steals in 1980-81 and the year he graduated (1982), he was the only UNLV player to be drafted in the NBA Draft. He was drafted by the Chicago Bulls but was not offered a contract. 

His mom was Betty Kincaid Burns. Justin also had an older brother, Jason Burns, who played college basketball like their father. He played for Georgetown for one year. Jason and Justin also have 3 younger sisters. 

Justin’s parents divorced in 1998 when he was around 15 years old. His dad continued to live in Las Vegas, but his mom moved to Mississippi. 

Like his older brother, Justin also followed in his father’s footsteps and played basketball for Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas. He went on to play basketball in college.

He was 6’7”, and he played on the Cal State Fullerton team from 2004 to 2007. He was even named Player of the Week in the Big West Men’s Basketball Division in 2006. 

According to his coach, right before Justin was going to graduate, he left school suddenly. His coach said he had “disappeared” and the coach never heard from him. 

Justin returned to school the following year, and tried to get back on track, but suddenly left school again. After he left Cal State, according to his dad, he went overseas and played basketball in Portugal, but then went back to live with his mom in Mississippi.  His dad, Michael, said he had him come back to Vegas, hoping he would get back into shape and start playing basketball again. He stayed with his dad for around 2-3 weeks, but then his dad lost contact with him. 

Justin’s friends said that he was couch surfing, crashing with friends. He didn’t have a job or a place to live. 

[Shaun] 

Michele and Justin started dating in 2004, and their relationship was on again off again for about 6 years, and they broke up in July of 2010.  

During the time the two were dating, John had spent time with Justin between 10 and 15 times, on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. The last time John had seen him was in 2008. John and Esther said that Justin was polite and respectful. According to his coach, he was never a violent person. 

In October 2010, Michele was living with her dad in West Covina. She and her best friend, Vicki Rojas, decided to go to Vegas to visit friends. It was also reported that they were traveling to Vegas to blow off some steam before their master's program started. 

The two of them drove to Vegas in Michele’s car, and they checked into the Gold Coast hotel. Michele and Justin met up & it’s reported they decided to try dating again. According to Vicki, she overheard the two of them get into an argument on one of the nights during the trip. 

Vicki only stayed in Vegas for a week. She ended up flying home, while Michele stayed behind and rented a weekly apartment with Justin near the Palms casino. The court records showed the apartment was rented in her name from November 2 to November 8. 

In the late afternoon of November 6, Justin and Michele went out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory near Green Valley Ranch in Henderson. According to their server, Michele wasn’t talking at all. She seemed to be in a bad mood, or sad, and Justin was agitated. They were seen on surveillance leaving the restaurant at about 4pm.

According to phone records, around 11pm, almost midnight,  Michele was alone in the apartment; and the two of them were arguing over text messages. Justin was outside of the apartment when the argument started. 

He was “demanding” that she let him in or come outside. 

The Grand Jury Testimony included this one exchange. I’m going to read it verbatim, uncensored:

Justin: Good Luck with Everything

Michele: What the fuck ever. Some fucking guy was over here harassing me. But I guess you just don’t give a shit anymore. 

Then 5 minutes later again, Michele: That’s some good shit to know. We don’t fuck with each other like that at all. Never call me again for anything. 

Justin: You full of shit, I been outside for a minute, aint nobody out here

Michele: Yeah fucked right

Justin: Open the door

Justin: Meet me in front

We don’t know what exactly happened after that.

[John]

Around 6pm on November 7, a white 2008 Nissan Altima was found, strangely abandoned in an apartment complex parking lot on the Historic Westside of Vegas, with the engine running, air conditioner blasting, the radio on, and the driver's side door wide open. The car had California plates, and the officers who arrived at the scene noted it was suspicious. 

The back seat of the car was empty. Inside the trunk were personal items, photos, letters, and some luggage. There was no obvious damage to the car or any blood. 

The officer got into the driver's seat and turned off the engine. 

The officers discovered it was registered to Michele Carson. The address on her registration was her home in West Covina, that she shared with her dad. They were able to get a phone number for the address, and the officers called John Carson. 

[Shaun] 

The officers explained that Michele’s car had been found under those suspicious circumstances we described, but John had not heard from Michele since she drove to Las Vegas. He started calling her cell phone, but it kept going to voicemail. John was extremely concerned, he said he was in “total disarray,” and he called her over and over again with it going to voicemail. He also reached out to others hoping they could get in touch with Michele. 

When the crime scene investigator arrived at the apartment complex to process and impound the car, the officers started chatting with him, asking how his day had been, some small talk. The crime scene investigator told them it had been a rough day, with 3 homicides happening in the Las Vegas valley that day. The officers got him up to speed on how the car was registered to a single white female, and that they had contacted her dad. 

The CSI knew one of his colleagues had been to a crime scene south of Las Vegas earlier that day. Based on the pictures they had found in the car, and the description John had given of Michele, the CSI reached out to his fellow crime scene investigator, and unfortunately, they discovered that it was likely that remains that were recovered earlier that day were Michele Carson. 

[John]

On the morning of November 7, two men went out in the desert to do some target shooting. The two friends, that we’ll call Mark and Eric, chose a spot they visited regularly for target shooting – an open desert area along a dirt road off the I-15, south of Las Vegas, near exit 25 for Sloan Road. 

For anyone who’s driven from Vegas to California, this exit is south of the M casino but before 7 Magic Mountains, about 15 miles from the center of the strip, near Jean.

This was one of the hobbies these two friends enjoyed together. They spent some time launching and shooting clay targets as well as a few apples. When they ran out of targets they walked further south along a creek bed, shooting at other random items in the desert. 

Mark noticed there was a pile of rocks to the left of where they were walking. For Mark, this was a very strange thing to see, because having a bonfire in that desert area wouldn’t be the smartest idea – there was a lot of flammable debris including ammunition shells. They walked closer and Mark saw what appeared to be a face and an arm sticking out from below the charred rocks. 

Mark said, as many people have said when they encounter a moment like this, that at first, he thought it had to be a mannequin. He told the grand jury that slowly, reality started to set in, and he realized it was a woman’s body partially buried under the rocks. 

Mark and his friend went back to their cars. Mark then called 911 and drove back out along the dirt road, back towards Las Vegas Boulevard, leaving Eric where they had parked. 

Mark explained that he went back out to Las Vegas Boulevard so he could help direct officers to the exact location. 

[Shaun] 

As Mark described, the rocks were charred and black, had been doused with gasoline, and were still smoldering. Michele’s body had been significantly burned. 

The autopsy would reveal that Michele had died from ligature strangulation and had been burned over 80% of her body after her death. Her head had been crushed by a boulder, but that was determined to be post mortem. 

According to her father, John, there was nothing left that they could bury. 

It wasn’t until after Michele’s death, that her parents found out that she had met up with Justin while she was in Vegas. It was at that time that they also learned that Justin had been violent with Michele. He had slapped her in the past. According to her dad, they were completely unaware of his abuse. 

[John]

Detectives recovered Michele’s cell phone, and they were able to identify the last number she had called. 

They got a court order signed by a judge, ordering Metro PCS to turn over the phone records for that number.

The number belonged to Justin Burns.

The police were able to obtain all of Justin’s phone records, which included his location pings, his call history, and his text messages. 

It was no surprise that those records showed that he was in the area where Michele’s body was found at the time of her murder. According to his location records, Justin drove south down the I-15 very early in the morning on November 7. He made 4 phone calls, starting at 3:27AM.

The first call pinged off of a cell tower at Flamingo and Valley View, which would be in the area of the Gold Coast, the Palms, and the apartment Michele rented for the week.

Then, 9 minutes later, another call is made that pings off of a tower at Maryland Parkway and Desert Inn Road.

The next two calls again ping off of towers in South Las Vegas and Henderson, indicating that Justin was traveling south. 

He made a phone call a little before 5am that pinged off a cell tower near where Michele’s remains were found. 

The police were able to follow the path Justin had taken from where he was known to be staying directly to the area where Michele’s body was found. 

The location information was only part of the story. Justin’s phone records also revealed that a few days after the murder, he contacted a criminal defense attorney and a psychiatrist. 

Detectives determined that Justin had killed Michele and transported her body to the desert, using her own car. After burning and burying her in rocks, he dumped her car in the historic westside. 

The detectives developed this theory once they connected the car to Michele’s murder. 

Michele was only 5’6”. As we mentioned before, Justin, was 6’7”. 

During grand jury testimony, John, who is 5’11” testified that whenever he would borrow Michele’s car, he would have to move the seat back. Michele would drive with her seat fairly close to the steering wheel, making it difficult for John to get into the car without moving it back first. 

Given the position of the driver's seat when the car was found, the police knew that it wasn’t likely that Michele was the one who had driven her car herself and abandoned it. An officer who is 5’9”, stated he got into the driver’s seat with no problem. 

Consequently, the police theorized that Justin had taken the car and left it like that hoping it would be stolen. 

Detectives also discovered through the phone records that Justin’s father, Michael, was contacting psychiatrists for Justin, as a result of what the Las Vegas Sun called “an incident with his girlfriend.” 

On December 8,  the Las Vegas Sun reported that police were asking the public for help, asking for tips or information. A woman, that we’ll call Tina, came forward.  She reported to Metro police that her boyfriend, who we’ll call Scott, told her that Jason Burns, Justin’s brother, had told him that Justin had killed his girlfriend, burned her body, and buried her in the desert. The police were able to corroborate that story with Scott – Jason had in fact told him that Justin had killed his girlfriend. 

Notably, Jason and Michael Burns reportedly did not assist in the investigation. His dad was told Michele’s car was found, but he would not tell the police where Justin was. 

This reminds us of what happened with Lesly Palacio’s murder which we covered a few weeks ago. In that case, Eric Ibarra’s father helped him move Lesly’s body into his truck so that Erick  could drive her out to the desert and “dispose of her”. 

Those two then fled to mexico together. Erick’s father finally gave himself up, but has never assisted the police in any way in finding his vile murderer son. The Anniversary of Lesly’s death is coming up so we’ll be sure to share information about that case as well as Erick Rangel’s wanted poster.

Further investigation revealed that Justin’s parents had him  committed to Monte Vista Hospital in November, after Michele’s car was found. Monte Vista was a psychiatric hospital located here in Las Vegas, but it is now closed. According to Michael, Justin was acting paranoid and strange and was saying that people were after him. 

His dad told the grand jury that while Justin was hospitalized there, he attempted suicide. 

Justin was then transferred to Southern Hills Hospital. However, on December 10, he checked himself out of the hospital and fled to Mississippi. Michael stated he discovered this when he called the hospital to check on Justin and the staff told him that he had left. 

[Shaun]

It took some time to track him down, but on March 17, 2011, Justin was finally arrested in Mississippi. It had been 4 months since Michele’s death. According to reporting, he was hiding out with his family in Jackson. 

His arrest was a coordinated effort between the FBI, US Marshals Service, Las Vegas Metro Police, and the Leake County Sheriff’s office. According to the FBI, he was arrested without incident. 

Justin was extradited back to Nevada. He was indicted on murder in the second degree with a deadly weapon. He pleaded not guilty, and was held without bail.

At the time of his arrest, John Carson told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune: 

“It is just devastating to our family. We lost our daughter. That they made an arrest, that he will not harm another person … what word can describe it?” 

John Carson did not provide a specific date to reporters, but this is interesting - John told the press that at some time while Justin was incarcerated, he wrote a letter to Michele’s parents. According to John, in the letter, Justin did not take any accountability. He was only making excuses and told them that he was a troubled person. 

Unfortunately, we have another example of a case where getting a resolution took years. 

The trial was delayed and delayed numerous times. Justin went through 7 different attorneys. At one point, Justin’s mother, acting with “power of attorney” attempted to file petitions for writs of habeas corpus. She also attempted to have him moved to a mental health facility. The court found that her filings were improper, however, all of this contributed to the trial being delayed for years.

[John]

One of the points of contention between the defense and the State was Justin’s cell phone records. In February 2013,  Justin’s attorney filed a motion to suppress the cell phone records; stating that the police needed a warrant to obtain that information, and that the information was seized in violation of Justin’s 4th amendment rights.

The state argued that the police had Michele’s cell phone, and Justin’s number was the last number she had contacted – so this was probable cause. 

The defense argued that the police had taken advantage of the cell phone, and that most people don’t know they can be traced by a cell phone. Which, 10 years ago, may have been a valid argument

The defense also argued that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in those text messages, which I’m not sure any of us would agree would be the case today. 

Judge Vega ruled that the cell phone information – Justin’s location pings as well as the content of the text messages would be admissible in court. 

She ruled that the Defendant did have a reasonable expectation of privacy in his text messages, however, the police properly had obtained the cell phone records by a lawful court order, and the police acted in good faith.

[Shaun]

As I stated, getting a resolution in this case took years. On May 7, 2014 – three years after he was arrested, Justin changed his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. 

July 7, 2015 - 4 and a half years after Michele was murdered, the State told the Judge that they were getting close to reaching a plea agreement, so the trial was continued again.

Later that year, Justin again dismissed his attorney. The Public Defender’s office told the Judge that because of Justin’s behavior and how his mother had tried to intervene in his defense by filing her own petitions, and so on, the Public Defender’s office stated they just couldn’t effectively represent him. 

As a result, The Special Public Defender’s office was appointed to represent Justin. The Special Public Defenders office is pretty much what it sounds like – in special situations where there is a conflict with the regular public defender’s office, the Special Public Defenders are available to represent defendants, but to me, it’s not clear how effective they were able to be. 

Because In December 2015 Burns filed an “Urgent Matter Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Prosecution, Discovery Violation and Violation U.S. Constitutional Rights Under 6th Amendment, 14th Amendment, Violation of State Constitution, SEC. 1 Inalienable Rights, SEC. 8 Deprecation of Rights, SEC. 8 Due Process of Law, SEC. 17 Involuntary Survatude” (45 pgs). 

The court records from late 2015 early 2016 show that Justin’s mental health was really taking a turn. He became unresponsive, and he started refusing to eat or drink. As a result, he was involuntarily medicated and moved to a psychiatric hospital called Rawson - Neal.

He received treatment and medication and on May 6, 2016 he was found competent to stand trial. However, by November, Justin was refusing to take his medication and needed to be medicated involuntarily again. 

[John]

Throughout this whole ordeal, John Carson was present at every hearing that occurred, desperate for justice and resolution for Michele. 

In an interview with the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, John reported that during Justin’s incarceration, John and Esther actually met with Justin. John told him that he had to accept accountability and stop delaying the trial. 

Thankfully for Michele’s parents, on July 31, 2017, Justin agreed to plead guilty to murder in the 2nd degree with use of a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to 10-25 years, and would be eligible for parole after 10 years. 

With time served, this meant that Justin’s first parole hearing was held in 2020. 

Michele’s dad drove in from California to be there at that parole hearing. Justin was not present. John was able to make a statement, and parole was denied. 

His next hearing would be in December of 2023. 

[Shaun]

He  never made it to his second parole hearing. 

On June 8, 2023, Justin Burns died by suicide in prison. He was 39 years old. 

John found out when he got an alert on his phone that Justin’s inmate status had changed, and when he called the Nevada Department of Corrections, they told him that Justin had been found dead in his cell. 

John was quoted as saying  “I was relieved. He would never, ever hurt another person.” 

“The rest of my life was going to be spent to keep him behind bars. I don’t believe in a death penalty, but I believe if you’re that sick, there’s something wired wrong. He’s a loose cannon, and I sincerely felt he would have murdered again.”

He told reporters that he cried when he heard the news because he was sad for Justin’s family, but also relieved for his own family. 

He also expressed great appreciation to the DAs office and for Las Vegas Metro’s victim advocate that helped him during the whole process. 

[John]

One interesting circumstance of Justin’s death is that the Review Journal reported was that 3 other murderers also died while in the custody of Nevada Department of Corrections between April and July of 2023. 

They had all been convicted of killing their partners.

Vitaly Zakouto, age 74, died on April 25, 2023, of colon cancer. In 2000, he was convicted of stalking, stabbing, and shooting his ex-wife, Marina Cannon. She was 49. 

Joseph Weldon Smith, age 82, died in May 2023. He was on death row for murdering his wife and her two step daughters. His wife Judith was 47, the girls were Wendy (age 20) and Kristy (age 12). 

Michael Garcia, 61, was stabbed to death in July 2023. He had pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter for the murder of his girlfriend Linda Wise in 2016. She was 53. 

[Shaun]

After Justin’s death, as we stated, John was very relieved that he didn’t have to attend any more hearings and that he wouldn’t have to worry about Justin getting out of prison and hurting or killing anyone else.

In light of the circumstances of Michele’s murder, her parents became domestic violence advocates. They told the Daily Breeze that they had never given much thought to domestic violence until they learned Michele had been a victim. Her parents visited Las Vegas frequently, to attend domestic violence awareness events. 

John has said  - "I don't want any other parent to go through the pain I and my family went through.” He says some secrets shouldn’t be kept, and that violence can escalate quickly. He wants to encourage people to speak out and get help. 

Michele’s friend Vicki has said that she wishes she hadn’t kept Justin’s abuse a secret from Michele’s parents. She said she never thought it would reach a place where Michele would be killed.

[John]

We understand where Vicki and John are coming from, and that’s part of the why of why we do this podcast. 

Michele’s family and friends suffered a horrible loss. We don’t know for sure if anything could have been done to prevent Michele’s death, but in these situations, we know that doing nothing definitely will not make a difference. 

We have resources in our show notes and on our website sinsandsurvivors.com. We encourage anyone who’s experiencing domestic violence or affected by it to reach out to resources for support. Also, anyone going through mental health struggles can call 988 for help. 

If you’re enjoying the podcast, please visit your platform of choice, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music, and leave us a review! It helps get the word out about these important stories. 

We’ll continue the conversation on this week’s Swing Shift overtime episode now. If you want to head that and also get ad-free episodes, you can either join our Patreon at sinspod.co/patreon or you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts at sinspod.co/apple

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