HUNTINGTON BEACH : Slaying Victim Is Clothes Designer

The body of a man found shot to death in the desert near Las Vegas was identified Tuesday as Charles Richter Jr., a clothing designer from Huntington Beach.

Richter, 38, was apparently driving home last Wednesday when he was robbed of his car, jewelry and other valuables and then shot in the head, Las Vegas police reported. Hours later, a hiker discovered Richter’s body in an abandoned water tank outside Jean, Nev., a dusty outpost about 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

Richter was a well-known designer in Las Vegas and at the time of his death had been hired to design the stage wardrobe for Kenny Kerr, star of the “Boylesque” show that has been headlining at the Sahara casino on the Vegas Strip, police said. Kerr does a female-impersonation act at the Sahara.

Police theorize that Richter had stopped at a casino to gamble shortly before he was accosted and that he had been targeted there by his killers.

“We have one or two of these kind of murders a year that evolve from pure greed,” said Sgt. Bill Keeton of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which is investigating Richter’s death. He said the killers prowl the casinos looking for well-heeled people with jewelry and money.

Keeton said Richter drove west on Interstate 15 back toward California and apparently stopped either at Whiskey Pete’s Hotel and Casino in Stateline, Nev., or two large casinos in Jean, Nev., about 12 miles away from Whiskey Pete’s. Richter was known to frequent all three casinos.

At about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Keeton said, a gambler taking a break from the tables at the Gold Strike Casino in Jean took a short hike through the surrounding desert. He stumbled upon an abandoned water tank, where he discovered Richter’s body.

Keeton said police believe Richter was forced into the tank and shot there during the evening of April 25. Richter was stripped of a wallet, wristwatch and other jewelry. Richter’s 1988 blue-and-brown Ford Bronco II was also missing, Keeton said.

Lacking identification, Las Vegas police issued a description of the murder victim. The friend with whom Richter had been staying notified authorities and subsequently identified his body.

Rod Swearingen, a security supervisor at Whiskey Pete’s, said “out-of-towners” such as Richter frequently fall prey to criminals who first target them inside a casino.

“They’ll see what the gambler is wearing--nice rings and that kind of thing--and they’ll walk up to buy him a drink,” Swearingen said. “Then they’ll say, ‘Let’s go out and party.’ We usually end up finding the body near the road.”