Wife Missing; Ontario Man Is Held

A retired Ontario math teacher suspected of murdering his wife was arrested by police Thursday evening shortly before he was scheduled to board a Greyhound bus headed for El Paso. He was carrying a wig, a false mustache and several thousand dollars in cash, authorities said.

Ontario and Las Vegas police detectives had tracked John M. Watson ever since the couple’s children reported their mother, Everilda D. Watson, missing.

She disappeared July 15, two days after the children said she should have returned from the couple’s vacation in Las Vegas. John Watson told police that he had simply “lost contact” with his wife and last saw her in downtown Las Vegas on July 15.

During the three-week investigation, detectives found blood and DNA they said was that of Everilda Watson in the couple’s Jeep Cherokee.

John Watson initially told police his wife had cut her hand, but Ontario Det. Dave McBride said Watson’s statements were inconsistent and illogical because of the amount of blood in the vehicle.

A Las Vegas judge issued a warrant for Watson’s arrest Wednesday, and police from Claremont, Ontario and Las Vegas arrested him at a Claremont Denny’s Thursday evening. He was carrying false identification and a ticket to El Paso that he had bought under a fake name, police said.

“We theorized he was going to go across the border from there,” McBride said.

Watson, who is being held on suspicion of murder and kidnapping, will be extradited to Nevada, where police believe Everilda Watson was slain. Her body has not been found.