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Episode 5 - Tiffany Booth
The Council on Criminal Justice has estimated there was an 8% Increase in Domestic Violence Incidents in the United States Following the Pandemic Stay-At-Home Orders, while the Las Vegas Metro Police Department reported a 12 percent spike in domestic violence calls.
One woman’s kind gesture to a co-worker in need led to a whirlwind pandemic lockdown relationship, and later tragically resulted in her murder.
Her murderer remains at large, and her family needs your help to secure justice for Tiffany and ensure he faces the consequences of his actions.
[Shaun] Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence. 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] Before we get into the case, I want to take a minute and thank Haley Gray for her research on this case
[John]
[Shaun] This episode is about Tiffany Booth, who was reported missing on October 5, 2020, and was later found murdered.
Tiffany’s family has noted that there was a lack of media coverage
& that’s why we are doing this – to bring more attention to these cases in Nevada especially ones like this that have a domestic violence component
[John]
[Shaun] Tiffany disappeared around in October 2020.
[John]
Definitely, the news I was focused on was things like “when are they going to have a vaccine” and more national things like what was going on in New York hospitals and up in the pacific northwest with nursing home outbreaks.. .. So thats definitely possible.
[Shaun] So I’ll start us off with sharing some background info on who Tiffany was.
Tiffany was born on June 11, 1985 – making her 35 years old when she disappeared.
Tiffany was an extremely family-oriented person. She moved to Las Vegas in 2019 from San Antonio Texas specifically to help out her mom, Judy. Her mom was having some health issues and Tiffany stepped up to be there for her. The two of them shared a condo.
To me, this sounds like a very Vegas story.
[John]
Yep, thats true…. a lot of people end up moving here because their family members have moved here. Your whole family moved here because you were here, and for me, my mom moved here about 18 months ago. Super typical
One of the things her family has said about Tiffany is that she was the glue that held them together. To me, this really highlights what her loss meant to everyone around her.
She was also an animal lover and had a beloved cat called Fluffy Kitty that of course, she adored. She was also a Seattle Seahawks fan.
So according to her family she was extremely caring; she was always looking out for others and helping people out, and as a result, Tiffany could be vulnerable to manipulation because she had such a good heart and she was very trusting.
Tiffany worked in IT & was interested in genealogy, true crime, and Disney. She also loved playing board games with her family late into the night.
She also was great with kids & hoped to work with children one day.
[John]
One story that has been shared is that Tiffany was amazing with Angelena's son, who has autism.
Angelena mentioned that her son used to struggle with his breathing treatments and hated wearing his mask.
Tiffany also had asthma, and she would send him pictures of herself doing the same treatments, and she'd say, "See, even grownups have to do this!" .
She also patiently showed him how to use the mask.
[Shaun] Tiffany having asthma became a major concern once the pandemic hit. In March of 2020, Judy contracted Covid. To avoid putting Tiffany’s health at risk, Judy moved in with her boyfriend, and Tiffany stayed at the condo herself with Fluffy Kitty.
About the same time, her coworker Edwardo Clemente approached Tiffany with a bit of a pity play, maybe. He lies to her and claims that he doesn't have a place to stay because his sister tried to kill him. So he asked to stay at Tiffany’s on her couch. And Tiffany let him move in, as her roommate.
At first, they were just living together as friends and roommates. Tiffany was referring to Edwardo as her roommate to her mom and friends and family… she apparently didn’t even say she was living with a guy.
Their relationship changed in July 2020 – and they became more than roommates.
[John] thoughts and comments (relationship moved quickly; covid isolation)
[Shaun] Yeah, when we were discussing that case and you heard that detail, you said “love bombing”
[John] —
Another thing I wanted to mention is that there’s a YouTube channel that I really love called “Pop Culture Detective”. They write and present long-form essays on Youtube that examine different things in, as you’d expect.. Pop culture. We’ll include a link to their YouTube channel in the show notes
They did one in 2018 called “stalking for love” which talks about the trope of the “persistent” man who “wont take no for an answer” It can seem really innocuous or even endearing in a movie like “50 first dates” or “10 things I hate about you” but its insidious, and I’d argue that this type of behavior fits into that category. The video essay is like 23 minutes long and well worth a listen. Itll be in the show notes.
[Shaun] According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline
Love bombing is absolutely a form of emotional abuse - and we aren’t talking about little nice things or gestures that a person you’re dating might do for you, like fixing your coffee in the morning. If they are violating your boundaries, that can be a sign of an unhealthy relationship or abuse
The Hotline lists these 4 signs of love bombing:
[John] -
This is one of those areas where I think it's important as parents to have conversations with our male children about this. The idea of this gets normalized in pop culture as I mentioned so we really have to overcome that to explain to our sons why this isn't acceptable.
All the stuff you mentioned there.. The excessive gifts, the wild compliments, the “I love you”s, and the overcommunication all make my spidey senses really tingle. They all skeeve me out, but I’ve also made a ton of my own mistakes in this regard. It would have been nice if this had been explained to me when I was younger. This stuff isn't something you’re born learning.. You probably have to fumble your way through it.
The darker side of that of course is when you’re 38 years old and you should know better.. And you do, most likely know EXACTLY what you’re doing, and you prey on someone using these.. I guess .. “techniques”
[Shaun] Tiffany expressed to family in a group chat (that her mom wasn’t in) how she was head over heels for Edwardo and that they were already talking about marriage… She mentioned they wanted a Star Wars themed wedding.
[John]
That actually sounds really awesome .. it sounds like Tiffany was really taken in by Eduardo
On September 27, Tiffany and Eduardo had dinner with Tiffany’s mom Judy, and that was the first time Judy met Edwardo.
Tiffany finally officially came clean about her relationship with Eduardo to Judy and told her that it was “serious”.
Judy said she found Eduardo to be normal, nice, and highly intelligent, but she thought he seemed secretive because to a lack of information about his family.
On Thursday, October 1, Judy received a text from Tiffany’s phone telling her that she needed to leave her condo because her asthma was being aggravated by marijuana smoke coming from a neighbor's vents. Tiffany said that she and Eduardo would be staying in Boulder City.
We live about 25-30 minutes from Boulder City, and close enough that I can ride my bike there… and to be clear, Boulder City is just great. They have some great casual restaurants there like Cornish Pasty, cool bars like Beer Zombies and a reall cool hotel called the Boulder Dam Hotel that has a speakeasy in the basement. We’ve been trying to figure out a weekend to go there for a staycation.. So the idea of going there for a day.. Or for an overnight from Henderson isnt weird at all
Tiffany told her employer that she wouldn't be coming into work on from work on that Friday October 2, saying that while they’d return home on that day but she wouldnt be back to work until Monday, October 5. She also made plans to have dinner with Judy on Sunday.
Judy seemed to be pretty suspicious from the beginning, trying to contact Tiffany by text on thursday. Her friend have also said that it was strange that Judy didnt hear back because she and Tiffany were always in close contact. During that time, Tiffany was active on social media.. But she wasnt liking or commenting on anything, which was also very strange.
[Shaun] Yes, The family thought it was odd that Tiffany wasn’t answering their texts, but they did not want to worry too much or get into worse case scenarios. They seemed to think that Tiffany and Edwardo were in a new relationship & maybe they even eloped. But the family also noticed that during this time, they only received texts from Tiffany – no one had spoken to her on the phone.
Tiffany’s mom, Judy, had access to the security cameras at Tiffany’s condo, and she could see that Tiffany’s car was gone. And, she noticed the security footage from September 29, September 30, and October 1 had been manually deleted.
As we mentioned, Tiffany was the glue of her family & her friends, and she was in several group chats, including her group of friends from San Antonio. This group of friends noticed that on October 3 & 4 that Tiffany’s location showed she was in Idaho.
[John] Idaho is about a 7 and a half hour drive north from Las Vegas … almost 500 miles, and decidedly no where near Boulder city.. And location services like that don’t lie.
We talked two weeks ago about the dangers of Airtags for stalking and the misuse of location tracking, but in this case it was absolutely crucial to figuring out what had happened, and as well see, to discovering Tiffany’s ultimate whereabouts.
On Monday, October 5, both Tiffany and Eduardo had not returned to work, which was very unusual for Tiffany. Despite attempts to contact them, nobody could reach either of them. Concerned, Judy sent a text about Tiffany's cat (Fuzzy Kitty) and again received no response.
This made Judy even more uneasy because Tiffany would never leave without setting up proper care for her cat and responding to any questions about the kitty.
So given that, Judy and her boyfriend decided to investigate by going to Tiffany’s condo. Alarmingly, they discovered that there was no food or water for Fuzzy Kitty, and none of Tiffany's belongings were gone, which was really concerning given that she had allegedly gone to Boulder City and probably would have taken *something*
Worse, Judy found Tiffany's asthma medication in her apartment, which was REALLY strange given that the reason she was given for Tiffany and Eduardo leaving the apartment was that Tiffany was having severe asthma issues.
On top of all this, Tiffany had left her laptop, which was very odd of her.
At that point, on the same day, Monday, October 5th, Judy reported both Tiffany and Eduardo as missing persons, prompting an investigation by LV Metro missing person detectives. Initially some members of Tiffany's family felt that the initial response from the detectives was inadequate.
Despite the family expressing their concerns and the belief that something was seriously wrong, the police seemed to dismiss the situation, adopting an attitude of 'she's a grown woman, she can do what she wants, she'll come back.'
This is something you hear all too often in these cases. The person is missing, the family calls the police, and either the police refuse to open a missing persons case until a certain number of hours have passed, or the police don't investigate vigorously, typically with some variation on the excuse that the alleged missing person an adult and they can go where they want.
What seems to get lost in these cases is the fact that often the families are telling the police that its incredibly unlikely their loved one has simply gone walkabout but they’re just ignored.
[Shaun] The statistics we were able to find about how many missing persons reports are filed in Las Vegas each year were varied. Las Vegas Metro Police Department says they receive 10 missing adult reports every day, more than 300 a month. And that’s just adults. Without a doubt, that’s a lot and puts a strain on resources, and while I respect that without evidence of harm or Tiffany being endangered… I understand their point of view that they wanted to keep waiting. One source mentioned there are 8000 missing juvenile reports made every year in Nevada. The majority of those would be in the Las Vegas area, which is about 75% of the state’s population… Based on that — that would be around another 500 missing kid reports a month that police are dealing with, on top of the adult reports.
[John]
These statistics are bananas to me. I find it so hard to believe that 800 people go missing a month.
The next day, the police did go to the Condo but apparently didn’t find anything suspicious. I'm not really sure how her asthma medication being left behind wasn't considered suspicious though.
Also that day, Tiffany’s Facebook was shut down, which not only shocked the family but was also pretty painful, emotionally, knowing how much of her personality in the form of posts and photos was just lost.
Another friend of Tiffany’s named Bree arrived in Vegas on October 7 & started assisting Judy and Tiffany’s cousin Angelena in investigating what’s been going on. They were able to get into Tiffany’s bank information to see where her card was used – It turns out that it had last been used on October 6 in Twin Falls Idaho to buy food and gas.
They started looking into Eduardo and found that he had several aliases. He also had dozens of social media accounts using his picture – but with the name “Daniel Trent”
Judy and Tiffany’s Aunt Mindy also found materials in the condo to make fake IDs that apparently belonged to Eduardo and even found one of the IDs he’d created.
[Shaun]
Tiffany’s cousin Angelena had started a Facebook page to raise awareness about, what they thought at the time, was the disappearance of both Eduardo and Tiffany. Family and friends had teamed up to share photos of information to try to locate the couple.
As a result, on October 7, Angelena got a text from a friend who lives in Ely, Nevada. The text said (QUOTE) “is this Edwardo?” (UNQUOTE) and she included a photo. It turned out this friend’s neighbor had found edwardo sleeping in her yard. He had a wagon with computer stuff and was calling himself Daniel. He was crying a lot and he went with the pity play like he had with Tiffany, claiming his mom had died and he was on a spiritual walk from Idaho to Henderson, Nevada. Just for context — That’s 700 miles. If you walked… 12 hours a day, that’s a trip that would take you at least 2 weeks.
[John]
This part of the story is bizarre to me. Ely has a very small population of less than 4,000. It’s a 4-hour drive away… north. Until you realize that Eduardo had ties to Ely
By the time this tip came to Tiffany’s family, it was too late, because the family whose lawn he slept on had already given him a ride to henderson so he was gone.
And that was the last credible sighting of Eduardo.
The next day, October 8, Tiffany’s car is found, abandoned, near Ely, by two police officers who happened to be hunting in the area. The police noted the car had no license plates and found a receipt from a Twin Falls, Idaho Walmart, showing the purchase of survival gear or camping gear on October 3 and when they pulled the surveillance footage from the transaction, Tiffany wasn’t with Eduardo. The police then had the car towed so they could perform a more thorough search.
On October 10 they executed a warrant for Tiffany’s condo. They find aspirated blood spatter on one of the door frames… and powder on the carpet that they believe is carpet cleaner, as if someone had cleaned up.
There were also several rolls of saran wrap.. Which the police suspected may have been used to wrap a wound to stop the bleeding.
At this time, the detectives (FINALLY) believed that Tiffany had been the victim of a homicide.
On October 11 - The police looked at Tiffany’s car and discovered a GPS device had been placed on it. Edwardo’s bank statements showed a purchase of a GPS tracker in early September 2020.
According to Tiffany's family, they believe Eduardo installed the tracker out of jealousy to monitor Tiffany's whereabouts. This also brings us back to the episode where we talked about people using Airags to stalk people they’re in relationships with. They didnt exist then, but I have no doubt that if they did, Eduardo would have been using them for that.
It turns out that Eduardo inadvertently left that GPS tracker on Tiffany's car when he dumped the car and so of course the Detectives requested GPS data for specific days. The data revealed that on September 30 and October 1, the GPS tracker, still attached to Tiffany's car, traveled north on US 95 to the desert southwest of Indian Springs, approximately 45 miles from Las Vegas. The tracker stayed in the desert for a period before eventually leaving the area.
Following the GPS data, detectives went to the desert and discovered Tiffany's body. She was found wrapped in a blanket and plastic, just over a rocky ravine. The GPS tracker effectively served as a map to locate her remains.
It was later revealed that Eduardo had previously lived in Indian Springs, so he was familiar with the area. An autopsy determined that tiffany had died from blunt force trauma. On October 28, Eduardo was announced as a suspect and charged with her murder, as well as vehicle theft and using a bank card without consent.
A few weeks after Tiffany's murder, a co-worker of hers and Eduardo’s came forward to provide information to the police. According to the co-worker, Tiffany had confided in him before her death, revealing that Eduardo was mentally abusive. Eduardo would belittle her, make her feel worthless, and at times, physically shove her.
I don’t know what the coworker may have said in response to her, but I think this is a good time just to say that if this happens to you, do your best to listen and empathize with your colleague or friend, and if you feel it’s appropriate, remind them about the DV hotline & any resources maybe your work offers that could be helpful like an EAP program or other mental health resource.
You can ask them what they want to do and how you can be supportive.
That same co-worker recounted receiving a butt dial from Eduardo at 4:26 am on September 30. During the accidental call, the co-worker could hear arguing and yelling, with Eduardo repeatedly stating he QUOTE "wanted the truth." UNQUOTE As the argument intensified, the call abruptly ended, leaving the co-worker increasingly concerned for Tiffany's safety.
Tiffany's family shared with investigators that the couple was apparently arguing due to communication from one of Tiffany's ex-boyfriends. Eduardo's extreme jealousy prohibited Tiffany from interacting with other men.
Based on the collective information, detectives reconstructed the events leading to Tiffany's death. The conclusion they reached is that on the morning of September 30, an intense argument erupted between Eduardo and Tiffany concerning her past relationships. The confrontation escalated into a physical altercation, resulting in Eduardo murdering Tiffany.
Tiffany was cremated, and her remains were interred alongside her grandparents. Additionally, the ashes of her beloved parakeet were laid to rest with her, a gesture that held significant emotional importance for the family.
On November 19, authorities held a press conference to announce that Eduardo was still being sought, with the possibility that he was hiding, potentially in remote areas such as the mountains in northeastern Nevada, particularly near the Ruby Mountains near Ely, Nevada, and possibly into Idaho.
Judy, Tiffany's mother, appealed to Eduardo during the conference, urging him to surrender for the sake of closure for both families.
Following the issuing of an arrest warrant, the FBI joined the efforts to locate Eduardo. Because to his IT background, investigators noted that Eduardo had skillfully covered his digital tracks, and they believed he had also altered his physical appearance, losing as much as 150 pounds to make identification more challenging. The police emphasized that he is dangerous, and trying extremely hard to avoid being brought in
As of today in November of 2023, he is still at large. Eduardo Clemente (who may be using an alias including Daniel Trent) is a white male, six feet two inches. At the time he was last seen, Eduardo weighed approximately 375 pounds, however as noted, he could have lost up to 150 pounds since then.
He may be hiding in plain sight in communities of people experiencing homelessness or anywhere in Nevada, Idaho, or Montana.
CrimeStoppers is offering a $10,000 reward, and the FBI added an additional $10,000 award.
Anyone with any information about this is asked to call LV Metro Homicide at 702-828-3521 or email homicide@lvmpd.com. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555 or report a tip online at crimestoppersofnv.com.
Of course we’ll share his wanted poster and photos so we all can get his face out there so he can be brought to justice.
And this is why we are doing this episode. We want to assist Judy & Angelena and all of Tiffany’s loved ones
Angelena has been quoted as saying QUOTE “I absolutely want justice for my beautiful cousin, but at the same time it's almost more urgent for me because I don't want him to hurt anybody else. I don't want another innocent, vulnerable girl to take him in. And you know, now that he's done what he has done, if he's gotta cover his tracks, you know what I mean? Crazy things happen. And or what if she found out who he was and then, what kind of danger is that person in?” UNQUOTE
And
QUOTE
“Knowing what we've gone through. Not for one second would I ever want anyone else to ever, ever go through this.” UNQUOTE
In June 2022, Tiffany’s family held a celebration of life for Tiffany. They shared videos of Tiffany dancing and rescuing birds. Judy talked about how she thinks of her daughter every day. They used to love going to concerts together and playing bingo at the now closed Eastside Cannery.
The family has a GoFundMe that is still active. I know cases we’ve covered so far, typically the GofundMe has closed, but Tiffany’s family still needs help. They are seeking funding to help pay for a billboard in Henderson to get Edwardo’s face and information out there. They have other expenses related to the search for Justice for Tiffany.
And now that Tiffany is gone, Judy needs more support from her family in light of her illness, so they need financial help to travel to support her. We invite all of you to contribute to their gofundme, if you can.
Before we go, we want to conclude with a quote from Angelena - (QUOTE) She was just amazing. I know we say it all the time, because it's really common to romanticize people after they pass away. They're all wonderful. They never did anything wrong, you know, but the only thing that you could say about Tiffany is that she was just so kind…just so kind, so loving and kind and giving and genuine. She was just one of those people that would do anything for you.” (UNQUOTE)
We did communicate briefly with Angelena and I want to stress that they are desperate for any leads in this case, so please share the information about Edwardo and be sure to also like and follow the “Help Find Justice for Tiffany Booth Facebook page. “
Thanks as always for listening & remember to subscribe and follow sins and survivors because
what happens here happens everywhere.
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