LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — DNA found on a stolen car ties a teenager, accused of intentionally hitting and killing a retired police chief who was riding a bicycle, to an earlier carjacking, police said in documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained.
Police arrested Jesus Ayala, 19, on Aug. 14, 2023, shortly after retired California police chief Andy Probst, 64, was killed while riding his bicycle in the northwest valley. Video from that morning’s alleged crime spree showed two bicyclists appearing to be intentionally hit in separate locations.
Detectives recently connected Ayala to a July 2023 carjacking through DNA, they said. According to police, a teenager approached a security officer who had parked a car in her driveway, telling the woman, “Give me the keys, [expletive]” and showing a gun, documents said. Another teenager then stole the woman’s purse and phone.
The day after the carjacking, officers located the vehicle abandoned.
In June, a DNA test on the car’s door handle matched Ayala’s police said. Police also reviewed body camera video from Ayala’s arrest a month later, which they said showed him wearing similar clothing as seen in surveillance video from the night of the carjacking.
Ayala faced new charges of robbery with a deadly weapon and grand larceny connected to the carjacking, records said. He has remained in custody since his August 2023 arrest.
Records show earlier this month, two doctors found Ayala competent to stand trial, meaning he understood the charges against him and could aid his attorney. Another doctor found Ayala incompetent to stand trial, records said, prompting Clark County Public Defender David Westbrook to ask Clark County District Court Judge Chrsity Craig to declare Ayala incompetent to stand trial. As of Thursday, Ayala was waiting to be transported to a state mental health bed — a process that could take months. If and when Ayala regains competency, his criminal cases will continue.
In a third case, Ayala is accused in a June 2023 stabbing — two months before Probst’s death, documents said.
