Body of Boy Kidnaped at Casino Believed Found

JEAN, Nev. —  A body believed to be that of kidnap victim Alexander Harris, 7, of Mountain View, Calif., was found Wednesday under a mobile home near the Nevada casino from which the youngster disappeared the day after Thanksgiving.

“It is not absolutely positive, but we are 95% sure it is Alexander Harris,” said James Weller, head of the Las Vegas FBI office.

Ron Flud, chief deputy Clark County coroner, said, “Investigators feel the body is consistent with the Harris boy.”

Family Notified

Weller said the boy’s glasses were found near the fully clothed body. Flud said the youngster’s family has been notified.

The boy disappeared about 11 a.m. on Nov. 28 from a video arcade in Whiskey Pete’s, a casino near the Nevada-California state line. Witnesses recalled seeing the youngster walking down a hallway of the resort hand-in-hand with a man in his 30s.

The hotel-casino on the state line southwest of Jean is a popular stopping point for motorists driving between Las Vegas and California.

Alexander had been in Las Vegas for a family Thanksgiving Day reunion and was returning to his Northern California home with relatives, including his grandfather, when he vanished.

Weller said the Harris family was never contacted by an abductor with ransom demands. The FBI entered the case a few days after the the boy disappeared.

Because the body was found in Nevada, several yards from California, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is in charge of the investigation.

Weller said there were no obvious signs at the scene to indicate cause of death. He said that since the body was found in Nevada, it was not an FBI case because the victim had apparently not been taken across a state line. Weller said, however, that the agency will continue to work with police.

Crime Scene

Investigators, attempting to preserve the crime scene, disconnected all utilities to the mobile home Wednesday and called for a crane to lift the trailer from its foundation. The body was found beneath one of 10 trailer sites near Whiskey Pete’s used by off-duty casino executives.

Whiskey Pete’s offered a $10,000 reward in the case.

Drawings released last month of the kidnap suspect show a 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-9 man weighing 160 to 175 pounds, with straight, collar-length blond hair. He was wearing silver, wire-rim glasses, a brown Members Only-type jacket and dark trousers. The second drawing shows a 6-foot man, 170 pounds, with sandy blond hair and wearing round, wire-rim glasses.