Crime Beat
Routine traffic stop leads to murder arrest
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A routine traffic stop in Las Vegas led to the arrest of a man who authorities believe murdered a woman in New Mexico. Video by ktnv.com
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Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- A routine traffic stop in Las Vegas led to the arrest of a man who authorities believe murdered a woman in New Mexico.
It was a gut feeling and a strong follow up by two detectives on the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's auto theft team that prompted a homicide investigation hundreds of miles away.
Metro Detectives Kristine Anderson and Joe McGill were in plain clothes in an unmarked car when they spotted Frank Keller.
They said the 45-year-old was driving erratically near a truck stop at Pecos and Craig. They followed him on Pecos and pulled him over near Las Vegas Boulevard.
"He just wasn't believable to me whatsoever, he would look off," Detective Anderson said. "And he definitely appeared under the influence."
Her instinct was right. Detective Anderson found unlabeled bottles of prescription medication in Keller's possession. When she ran his New Mexico license plate, she learned he was a registered sex offender. The car he was driving belonged to a woman named Kimberly Draman.
"I knew there was something wrong," Detective Anderson said. "And then when I saw the record come back, it just told me more. I needed to look into it. I wasn't just going to leave it at the traffic stop."
The detectives arrested Keller. He claimed he knew Kimberly Draman, but something didn't add up. Officers called police in New Mexico, who later determined Draman was nowhere to be found. They filed a missing persons report immediately.
Police discovered the 53-year-old woman, who was battling cancer, was a neighbor of Keller's. She was last seen with him just five days earlier.
Detective Anderson believes they caught Keller just before he was about to dump Draman's car and take off. She noticed that when they pulled him over, his gas tank was on empty.
After being interviewed in jail, Keller was extradited to New Mexico. Authorities there said he admitted to being involved in Draman's death, and led them to where her remains were buried.
New Mexico police say Keller is addicted to meth.
He pleaded not guilty to Draman's murder earlier this week.
The detectives in Las Vegas who cracked the case are happy to bring Draman's friends and family some sense of closure.
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