Woman arrested for husband's murder after an internet witness pokes holes in her story
Las Vegas, Nevada - Emily Ikuta is adamant that her husband accidentally shot himself – but she now finds herself facing murder charges after testimony from an online witness.
On March 22, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a panicked 911 call.
The caller was a distraught woman who claimed to have found her husband lying on the floor, gasping for breath, having just arrived home herself with the dogs.
As People reported, she also reported that he looked like he had been shot.
First responders rushed to scene, hoping there was still a chance to save 36-year-old Jourell Ng, but it was too late. After subsequent investigation, the officers investigating the scene began to grow suspicious of the series of events that Ikuta (37) was providing, particularly after she mentioned that she picked up the gun in question and had locked it in a closet.
After further questioning during a later interview, Ikuta told an investigator that her husband had most likely accidentally shot himself while cleaning his gun.
However, investigators increasingly doubted that her version of events was true.
Live internet chat provides clues
Ikuta told officers that she found her husband laying face down. However, "there wasn't a large pool of blood under [the victim's] body, which should have been there based on his position," an officer said.
Things became clearer when the ballistics report revealed that the victim was shot by a bullet traveling at a downward angle, which would not have been possible if her husband was simply cleaning his gun, as Ikuta claimed.
While officers did indeed find a cleaning mat and tools used to clean a gun, the items were still rolled up and put away on the shelf.
If the lack of evidence to match her story wasn't enough, Ikuta might not have been aware of a witness to her husband's death. An unnamed party was identified by police as having been in a live internet chat with audio with the victim at the time of the shooting.
The digital witness informed the police that they had heard dogs in the background before a loud clapping noise, believed to be the sound of the gun firing. They heard a small cry, and then silence.
Emily Ikuta was arrested on Thursday and a preliminary hearing will be held on April 8.
Cover photo: Twitter/Screenshot/LVMPD