Las Vegas fireman 'hired longtime friend as hitman to kill wife' in brutal hammer attack

George Tiaffay

Noel Stevens

 Shauna Tiaffay

A cocktail waitress was bludgeoned to death with a hammer by a man hired by her estranged husband to make the killing look like a break-in gone wrong, prosecutors allege.
Paramedics said the hole in Shauna Tiaffay's head was so deep they first thought she may have been shot.


The 46-year-old was found by her husband George Tiaffay and their eight-year-old daughter lying on her back in her work uniform with 'blood on her head and face.'
She had several broken fingers sustained while trying to defend herself after returning from a night shift to the Las Vegas apartment where she lives alone.
Police initially thought she had been the victim of a bungled burglary, but less than two weeks after the September 29 killing, they charged Tiaffay with murder.

They claim the Las Vegas firefighter knew what his daughter would find at her mother's home because he had instructed a longtime friend to carry out the attack, according to a police report seen by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Detectives say Tiaffay, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, had tried to commit suicide by driving his truck into a wall after learning he had become a prime suspect.
His friend Noel 'Greyhound' Stevens, 37, a vagrant who lives in campsites around the town, has been accused of committing the murder.
He was arrested after a 'concerned citizen' allegedly called police to say a man nicknamed Greyhound killed someone's wife for $600 and the promise of more cash.

The friend told officers that Greyhound, later identified as Stevens, hit Mrs Tiaffay so hard the handle broke off the hammer.
Stevens admitted he was a longtime friend of Tiaffay's and worked for him as a handyman, but denied any knowledge of the killing.
Detectives allegedly found several items of Mrs Tiaffay's clothing, including a black dress, a thong and a blood-stained pair of jeans at two of his tents in the city.
They also discovered a replica key to Mrs Tiaffay's apartment made in a store that Stevens frequented.

There were no signs of forced entry into her property.
Phone records showed that Tiaffay had called Stevens' phone 86 times in September, according to police.

The pair were also said to have been recorded on a store surveillance camera together buying a hammer, knife and gloves a few weeks before her death.
Tiaffay, 40, also faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder, burglary with a deadly weapon and robbery with a deadly weapon. Stevens is facing similar charges.

They are expected to make their first court appearances today.