Nevada death row inmate commits suicide in Ely State Prison

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A man who was sentenced to death for killing a 15-year-old girl died by suicide inside a Nevada state prison, according to the Clark County Coroner’s office.

Staff at Ely State Prison found Norman Belcher, 49, unresponsive last Thursday, the 8 News Now Investigators have learned.

The cause of death was hanging, according to the Coroner’s office.

A Clark County jury sentenced Belcher to death in 2016. Belcher shot Alexus Postorino on Dec. 2, 2010, during a drug-related robbery. The teen was sleeping in her father’s bed while he was out with a friend, according to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officials.

The Clark County District Attorney’s office said Belcher plotted to rob the home, planning to kill anyone who would be able to identify him.

Belcher believed Postorino’s father owed him money from a drug deal. Belcher also shot the father’s roommate twice in the side, according to LVMPD officials.

Belcher and the teen girl’s father had known each other since grade school.

8 News Now Investigators reached out to Postorino’s father, who declined to comment.

Ely State Prison is located in northern Nevada. The maximum-security facility is approximately a four-hour drive from Las Vegas.

There are 51 inmates inside Nevada prisons who were sentenced to death, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections.

Most of the inmates are housed at Ely State Prison.

No executions are scheduled at this time, the department said. The last execution in Nevada was in 2006.

Source: 8newsnow.com, Vanessa Murphy, June 4, 2024

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