A Las Vegas woman has been charged with murder after police say she deliberately ran over her and killed her boyfriend as he tried to break up with her.
Maylien Doppert, 41, is accused of driving into James Dutter, 42, and leaving him in a pool of blood, as he attempted to pack his belongings into his car to move out of their home.
Dutter died in hospital five days later, on November 29, but not before he was able to speak to cops and tell them his side of the story.
Officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department were called to the apartment complex at 4110 Sanderling Circle, where Dutter and Doppert lived, at around 9.40pm on November 24, according to Doppert’s arrest report.
They found Dutter lying on the ground outside, still conscious but seriously injured and with no feeling in his legs or left arm.
He told a paramedic that his girlfriend ran him over because he wanted to break up, and told investigators the same when interviewed three days later at the University Medical Center, where he had been taken for treatment.
Dutter claimed the couple had moved into the complex just two days before, but that they were splitting up and he was packing his things on November 24 with the plan of taking off, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.
He said he was in the middle of loading items into his car when Doppert arrived home, leading to an argument as she accused him of stealing her belongings.
Dutter told detectives that as he continued to pack she jumped into her Mitsubishi Mirage and began to drive at him.
He narrowly avoided her first attempt to strike him after throwing a TV he was packing at her, he claimed, but was hit as she tried a second time.
“Dutter explained he heard a loud crash and saw (Doppert) had reversed her Mitsubishi into the community’s mailbox bank that was bolted into a cement area between the parking lot and Sanderling Circle,” police said of Dutter’s first close shave.
“Dutter walked to the end of his Mustang and was immediately struck by the front end of (Doppert’s) Mitsubishi, which she drove at a high rate of speed.”
He recalled being flung into the air after being hit by the car, according to the police report.
As Dutter landed back on the ground, he said he looked up and realized he was “underneath the bumper of another vehicle.”
When Dutter succumbed Sunday to multiple blunt force injuries sustained in the crash, his death was ruled a homicide.
Doppert admitted during interview to striking her boyfriend with her car, police said.
Her Mitsubishi Mirage was later found at the apartment complex with damage consistent with Dutter’s version of events, including a smashed front windshield, a large dent in the roofline above the windshield, and damage to the left rear bumper and fender.
Detectives also located “hair-like fibers embedded in the windshield glass and apparent blood on the left front fender,” according to the report.
Doppert was booked into the Clark County Detention Center Monday on a single count of open murder.
She was due to appear back in court Thursday.