The Halloween Murder of Tony Bagley

Episode #51 - The Halloween Murder of Tony Bagley

[Shaun] 

Tony Bagley was a typical 7-year-old here in Las Vegas hoping to get a great haul of candy on Halloween in 1994. Dressed as a Skeleton, he walked through the streets of North Las Vegas trick or treating with his family

[John] 

What happened next would shock the Las Vegas Community as a hail of bullets was fired at the family. But why? And by whom?

(Music - Pause for 8 seconds)

[Shaun] 

Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, as well as 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] 

We recently dropped a “Flashback” episode about SeMauri Norris Johnson, a young man who was murdered in an incident of gun violence on Halloween 2023, a year ago. There’s another murder case that we’d like to share today, that also happened on Halloween. Gun violence on Halloween here in Las Vegas is unfortunately not very rare, and this case has been open for three decades now, unsolved, cold, with a family still waiting on answers. This is considered one of Las Vegas’s most notorious unsolved murders. 

By talking about it, we hope to raise awareness and hopefully prompt someone to come forward who might know something about it.

Do you want to tell us about Tony?

[John] 

Of course. 

Tony was born on September 6th, 1987, making him 7 years old in 1994. His mom was LaShelle Cooper, and his dad was Anthony Bagley Sr. He had 3 siblings, a sister 3 years older named Shanell, and a younger brother and sister too. Reporting also mentions a young cousin, but most of the time the Las Vegas Review-Journal kept the names of the kids out of the press. 

Much of the documentation we found about this comes from Las Vegas Review Journal newspaper archives from 30 years ago which have been digitized into a searchable database, and we wanted to note that there’s a LOT of coverage on this in that archive.

Also, of note.. Tony kind of shared his name with his father, but he wasnt a Junior. Anthony Bagley Sr also had an older child who was Anthony Bagley Junior.. Older than Tony which made the research a little confusing in places.

Tony was in 2nd grade at HP Fitzgerald Elementary school on Reserve Street in North Las Vegas… that school is still there, with the same name. He was an active kid, playing baseball, football, and of course, it was 1994 so he loved his Nintendo, and who didn't?

[Shaun] 

As we said, he chose his costume for Halloween (a skeleton) and headed out trick or treating in his neighborhood with his Mom, his Aunt, his two sisters, his little brother, his cousin and his Aunt’s boyfriend, just like thousands of other kids did that night, expecting a great candy haul, a night of fun, and maybe a bit of a stomach ache the next day.

They were near Englestadt St and Veronica Avenue in North Las Vegas, just 4 blocks from their home, and noticed someone lingering on the side of the road. Initially, they didn’t think much of it.

He waited for a group of trick-or-treaters to pass the group, then ran at them. Tony’s mom thought he might be trying to steal their candy so they started to walk faster to get away from him. but instead, he ran around their small group in a half circle and opened fire.

[John] 

He was wearing a black hoodie, zipped up so they couldn't see his face, and he fired no less than 10 rounds with a handgun, then got into the passenger seat of a getaway car that was also lurking nearby with its headlight off. waiting.

The car was described as a “light-colored sedan”. It might have been a Ford Taurus, a Chevy Celebrity, or similar-looking car. 

Tony’s sister was shot in the stomach, his aunt was hit in the leg, and his mother was hit in the arm and the chest. 

The bullet that hit his mom’s arm passed right through and hit Tony in the head. He fell into his aunt’s arms, and his last word was “Mommy”

He died the next day at UMC. 

Everyone else in the group survived. His sister was treated in pediatric intensive care and was in the hospital for 8 days, undergoing surgery to remove part of her liver to save her life.

When Shanell was released from UMC, her friends came to her house to watch movies and surrounded her with love and support. A reporter was there to interview her.

Before the reporter could even get out the words, Shanell knew what was coming and anticipated the question. She said without hesitation, “What do I think about him? When I think about it, I think why he did it and did he know us? I think he needs to see his counselor. Because that shows how bad you feel about yourself. If you feel good about yourself, you wouldn’t be doing that.” 

Before we get back to the investigation into Tony’s death, I want to note that just a few months after the shooting, Shanell nearly drowned in a North Las Vegas city pool in July of 1995. She was again hospitalized in critical condition following the accident. She was released from UMC several days later. What an absolutely horrific year for this family. 

[Shaun] 

The investigation was led by the North Las Vegas police of course. Remember that North Las Vegas is a different City than Las Vegas and has its own police force separate from Metro.

On the day following the shooting, the North Las Vegas police questioned at least 11 people. Officer Mike Higgins said that he questioned a 27-year-old man who was suspected of being the shooter and murderer, but he denied any involvement and had to be released the next day because of a lack of evidence. They suspected him because his name had been reported to them by several nearby residents, and other inmates in the jail had said he’d been making comments linking himself to the crime, but it turned out there wasn’t any evidence linking him to the crime.

Police also believed that the shooter was aiming at one or more of the adults for some reason and that Tony and his sister were collateral damage.

There was a reward offered for information reading to the arrest of the murderer, first by state senator Joe Newal and State Assemblyman Morse Arberry, who each pledged $500 for a reward, followed by First Interstate Bank, who added $1500 to the reward. The reward would continue to climb and climb, as the Vegas community came together around Tony’s family. 

[John] 

The investigation quickly hit a brick wall. There was no motive that could be determined that would make someone target Tony’s mom and aunt, though there were some theories about gang activity, that it might have been potentially motivated by drugs, or that the shooter may have had a prior relationship with one of the women.

There were over two dozen people in the area at the time of the shooting, but police said that there was some fear about coming forward, making them think that the suspect might have lived in the area.. And people could have been concerned for their safety if they helped the police.

Two weeks after the shooting a re-enactment was aired on TV to try and generate leads, but it went absolutely nowhere. 

A year later, reporters interviewed the detectives and family, hoping to generate more interest in the case. The police said they hadn’t had any new leads in 9 months. They showed reporters a thick binder containing all the leads they’d followed up on, but none of them got them any closer to catching the killer.

[Shaun] 

Tony’s funeral was held on November 4th, 1994 at Bunkers Mortuary. More than 200 people were in attendance and the memorial was decorated with balloons, blue and white carnations, and a brown teddy bear. During the memorial, Reverend Silvester Rogers pleaded with the murderer to do the right thing and come forward.

Unfortunately, it got worse for the family. At that time, his mother was in computer school and didn't have health insurance, and his father, Anthony, was required by the court to carry health insurance for the children... but he didn’t. The ambulance ride alone cost over $1500 (which is $3200 in 2024 dollars). A local radio station raised $20,000 for the family’s medical bills, but that’s something that can bankrupt a family in very short order.

A year later Bob Stupak, a well-known local gambler and developer/casino owner who is actually the visionary behind the original stratosphere and the theme park rides on top, offered a $100,000 reward (that’s $213,000 in 2024 dollars) for tips leading to the arrest of Tony’s murderer.

We found some footage of Stupak in the UNLV Archives, and we will share that on our social media. Stupak declared that he knew the reward had to be big enough to get someone’s brother or even their mother to turn them in. 

He did it in a very PT Barnum-like fashion, holding a press conference and dumping out $100,00 in cash on a table for the press to see. He said, “I don’t want this money, I want this money to go away”. Unfortunately, even that didn't lead to any new tips.

Sadly on Halloween 1995, there was another tragedy in Las Vegas. 12-year-old Rupert Wright was accidentally shot and killed that night when a 20-year-old young man took out a gun to show to the kids in the neighborhood. No charges were filed as police determined it was an accident. Rupert was a funny and well-liked 7th grader who loved to draw and make model cars. 

[John] 

Tony’s mom told the RJ that even years later she was living in fear even being afraid to be out of her house, especially after dark. She was quoted as saying “What did we do to make somebody hate us enough to want to take all of our lives?” Just one year after the murder she sadly predicted that the case would go cold and never be solved. 

We have seen in some cases we’ve covered that the police don't seem to fully investigate these cases, but this isn't an example of that. The police and the local community really seemed intent on finding who killed Tony. Thousands and thousands of dollars were raised to both help the family and to fund a large reward to catch the person responsible. 

The multiple articles we found in the Review Journal archives paint a picture of a distressed community, frightened and frustrated that no one had been arrested for the horrific shooting. In Halloween of 1995 the North Las Vegas community planned a safe trick or treating event for the community, to give everyone a sense of security and safety. 

A local Muslim group met with the police and planned to canvas the neighborhood to ask questions, and the police even tried getting help from a psychic. America’s most wanted covered the case in 1996 as well, but again, there was nothing.

At Christmas time in 1994, Tony’s family set up a small tree at his gravesite with small gifts, decorating it with teddy bears, angels and a Santa Claus. They’d already bought his gifts for Christmas including a Super Nintendo and some Hot Wheels cars which he loved… it must have been a horrible nightmare of a Christmas for them.

Tony’s grandma told reporters “I usually put my wish list on the refrigerator, but this year, I just want the person who did this to my family to be caught.” 

The year after, they vowed they wouldn't celebrate Halloween again.

A reminder, the shooter was described (not very helpfully) as a 20 year old black man, around 5’8” and between 165 and 180 lbs. He would be around 50 today.

[Shaun] 

A bit more about Tony’s dad, Anthony. He was arrested on April 8th, 1998 for the murder of a man named Curtis Henry, who apparently owed him $1000 from 8 years earlier.

He approached Curtis and demanded the money, and then in the argument that followed, Curtis was shot. It’s reported that he stumbled to a home very nearby, then collapsed and died at the scene.

Anthony was charged, and after a brief trial, he was convicted of 1st-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 20 years, and also a SECOND life sentence for a deadly weapon enhancement.

It's interesting to note that Nevada changed the law in 2007 to adjust the deadly weapon enhancement to be 8-20 years. The law didn't apply retroactively though. After 20 years, Anthony was granted parole for the 1st-degree murder in 2018. However, it was expected he would need to serve the second life sentence for the deadly weapon enhancement. 

His advocates set up a petition and campaigned to have Anthony released. They argued that it was fundamentally unfair that Anthony be forced to serve a second life term. The Board of Pardons agreed with his advocates and ultimately pardoned him. So long story short, Anthony has served his time and is out of prison.

Tony’s godmother blames Anthony for the shooting. She said she thought that the shooting was to harm someone close to Anthony in retaliation for some drug deal that went bad, though we didn't find any evidence to back up that claim. It was noted that both shootings did happen in the same neighborhood. 

[John] 

But back to Tony, if you know anyone who lived in that area in the early ’90s that might know something about Tony’s murder, you can reach out to the North Las Vegas Police at 702-633-9111 or as always you can remain anonymous by visiting www.crimestoppersofnv.com or by calling Crime Stoppers at (702) 385-5555. It's long past time that this little boy’s tragic murder was solved. He would be 37 years old today if he had lived. 

As we remind you every week, what happens here, happens everywhere.