Nevada’s first serial killer, Queho, also known as the Last Renegade, continues to live as a legend despite passing away a long time ago. Bill Franz, the author of the book Renegade, mentioned, “Bounty hunters and others all tried, nobody was able to locate him. He was able to slip through the mountains pretty easily.”
Eldorado Canyon is around 40 miles from Las Vegas and while it was more populated than Las Vegas during its peak years, the non-existence of any law and order made the place ideal for crimes. Talking about the same, the owner of the Eldorado Canyon, Tony Werly said, “It’s so far out from anywhere that there’s no law and order. So they got away with murder right here.”
The area was so risky that even a murder would not prompt a law enforcement official from Pioche, located some 200 miles away from Eldorado Canyon, to come and take a look at the crime scene. Because of the lawlessness that prevailed there, Queho continued his murders without ever being caught.
Bill Franz opined that Queho had perhaps killed two third of the people he was accused of killing and his last murder happened in 1919 as he killed Maud Douglas, a woman. After this murder, he vanished, and despite many searching efforts, could not be located, as reported by 8 News Now. Bounty hunters were offered a prize of $3,000 and searched the areas, including caves and rivers around Colorado River, but without ever finding Queho.
It was thought that he was dead. However, he survived many more years since the time he disappeared because it was after 21 years of his last murder that two prosecutors stumbled across his remains. They found a hidden cave 2,000 feet above Colorado River where some of Queho’s possessions and his skeleton was found. It appeared that he had died some six months before his remains were found.
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Talking about Queho’s bones, Franz said, “The remains were displayed at the courthouse in Boulder City before they were bought and given to the Elks to be displayed in there and ridden down the street in a parade.”
Werly commented on the aftermath of this event and said, “The Elks Lodge paid the bill for the mortician and they claimed it for a while. They just moved him around, had him on display.” He further mentioned that Queho’s bones and artifacts were eventually stolen from Boulder City and later was found in a local dump after some years.
For a serial killer who was never caught and punished for his crimes, the entire story of finding Queho’s remains and the subsequent incidents that happened still serve as a chilling reminder of his existence and the lives he took.
