A Henderson judge ruled Tuesday that prosecutors have enough evidence to take to trial the case against a man accused of fatally beating an elderly woman inside her home.
Markus Williams, 38, who was arrested in June, faces a murder charge in the 2022 slaying of 68-year-old Yong Temple. After hearing hours of testimony, Judge Pro Tem Taleen Pandukht said there was substantial circumstantial evidence in the case.
“The state has shown by slight or marginal evidence that the crime of murder has been committed, and the defendant committed that crime,” Pandukht said.
Williams, who is being held at the Clark County Detention Center, sat at the end of the defense table alongside his public defenders — Katherine Sitsis, Tyler Gaston and Jay Brunner.
Gaston had argued that the case should be dismissed.
After the judge declined, he asked Pandukht to reconsider Williams’ no-bail status, arguing the evidence did not justify his continued detention.
“The only evidence introduced today to establish probable cause that he committed the offense is that he was found with some of her stolen property. That’s it,” Gaston said. “He has no motive. He has no connection to the victim.”
Pandukht also declined to reduce Williams’ bail.
Williams, who was not initially charged in Temple’s death, pleaded no contest to trespassing and possession of stolen property in 2022. He was ordered to complete a petit larceny class and stay out of trouble. He completed the requirements, and the case was closed.
Friends request welfare check
Lysander Roberson, a longtime friend of Temple’s, testified Tuesday that he last saw her at a Henderson Costco in December 2021. The following month, Roberson’s wife called Temple for six consecutive days, but Temple did not answer.
He then called Henderson police and asked officers to conduct a welfare check.
“It was unlike Yong and my wife to not talk for six days straight,” Roberson said. “I thought it would be a good thing to have someone check on her because she lived on her own.”
Roberson’s wife, who also testified, said Temple did not have children. She and Temple, a civilian employee at Nellis Air Force Base, bonded over their shared Korean heritage, according to the couple’s testimony.
They described Temple as Catholic and a regular churchgoer.
Temple did not have family in the United States, according to prosecutors.
Henderson Police Department officer Nicolas Gatto went to check on Temple at her home, near Wigwam Parkway and North Valle Verde Drive, on Jan. 7, 2022.
When she did not respond to knocks at the front door, Gatto and another officer forced their way in through the garage. Inside, Gatto found Temple dead, face down in a closet in the primary bedroom.
Gatto did not contact homicide detectives because officers initially believed Temple had died of natural causes, according to his testimony.
Williams found with victim’s belongings, police say
Temple died from blunt-force injuries to her head and neck, as well as asphyxia. Scrapes and bruising on her face indicated she may have been pushed into or smothered against carpet, medical examiner Zachary Michalicek testified Tuesday.
Two days after Temple was found, Williams was found sleeping under a bush in the backyard of a home less than a mile away, another officer, Timothy Brink, testified.
He was arrested for trespassing, and police said he had a backpack containing Amazon delivery packages that had been routed to Temple’s house, according to police.
“When we did a record check at that address, that’s when we found out there was a recent death,” Brink said. At that point, according to police, detectives began to consider Temple’s death suspicious.
Williams — who previously said he found the items on a nearby golf course — was also in possession of Temple’s home and vehicle keys, Brink added.
In 2026, police said they retested evidence from the scene for DNA, including Temple’s fingernail clippings, pillowcases, and a scarf, and found DNA linked to Williams.
Williams did not testify Tuesday.
Contact Akiya Leggio at aleggio@reviewjournal.com.
