LAS VEGAS — A Golden man was arrested after he allegedly held a woman hostage for several hours at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas Tuesday.
Caesars Palace security called the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) around 9:15 a.m. after receiving multiple noise complaints regarding room #2128, located in the Octavius tower. Callers reported that there was a possible domestic dispute.
When hotel security performed a welfare check, a man barricaded himself inside the room and claimed to have a gun, according to court documents. He allegedly said he would shoot anyone who entered the room.
The man then told arriving Las Vegas police officers, "If you don't leave, it will end badly," according to the LVMPD report. Shortly after, authorities heard a woman yell through the door, "He has a knife."
The room was registered to Matthew John Ermond Mannix, 35, of Golden, Colorado. The Associated Press reports that Mannix has criminal convictions for kidnapping in 2022 and property damage in 2012 in Colorado. He also has four active protection orders against him. Prosecutors said Wednesday the fugitive warrant is related to a kidnapping case, according to the AP.
Detectives, patrol officers, the LVMPD SWAT Team and medical personnel responded to Caesar's Palace for a hostage rescue situation.
Around 10:27 a.m., negotiators made contact with Mannix, who refused to let the woman out of the room, court documents state. According to the police report, he would taunt officers by opening and closing the door to the room. He allegedly told authorities he had a magazine full of bullets and that he "would pull the trigger."
Just before 11 a.m., guests were seen running from the pool area, which is located at the south-facing side of the ground level of the Octavius tower. Mannix allegedly broke out the window and threw "large furniture" out of the window. The furniture fell 21 floors and crashed onto the pool deck below.
At one point, crisis negotiators spoke to Mannix, who told the woman if she talked to the police he would "cut her tongue out of her mouth," the report reads. The woman tried to talk with authorities through the door, but Mannix allegedly threatened to use a gun. He also allegedly spoke over the woman so she couldn't communicate with authorities.
Authorities saw the woman "make a clear effort towards the door." Mannix then "grabbed her and dragged her to the bed as he body slammed her and began to have intercourse with her," according to the arrest report.
Mannix and the woman were taken into custody at 2:39 p.m.
Police noted in the report that the woman "was suspected to be extremely high and seemed to be experiencing drug-induced schizophrenia." The report states that Mannix and the woman had been "experiencing a transient lifestyle on the Las Vegas strip and had binged illegal narcotics for the past several days."
Authorities couldn't confirm if Mannix and the woman were in a domestic relationship, but the woman said the two had been in an on-and-off intimate relationship, according to court documents. She told detectives she thought Mannix was an MTV actor, so she slept with him, the report states.
The report notes that the two were "clearly under the influence of drug-induced paranoia." At one point, a police drone spotted Mannix smoking what appeared to be a meth pipe, according to the report.
The woman had "severe bruises" and cuts to her legs and lower groin area. She told authorities she sustained the injuries from climbing a fence, but detectives noted that the injuries "were more likely from shooting up and or from a battery."
When asked by authorities why she didn't leave the room, the woman said Mannix was bigger than her and had a knife, according to the report. She also told detectives she was afraid.
The woman told authorities she thought Mannix would throw her out of the window when he broke the glass, the report states.
Mannix allegedly told officers he would pay for the damage to the room. According to court documents, he claimed he and the woman were boyfriend and girlfriend and that he loved her.
The report states Mannix was "paranoid and had a schizophrenic episode where he was yelling out random comments and numbers and saying that he would pay for everything because he has a lot of money."
One detective described the damage to the hotel room as "some of the most severe property damage that I have seen in my 18 years as a detective." The pool deck was also littered with furniture and glass, the documents state. The damage is estimated to be more than $50,000.
Mannix was arrested for first-degree kidnapping, coercion with force or threat of force, destroying or injuring real or personal property of another, resisting public officials and disregard for safety of a person/ property.
A judge set bail at $750,000 for Mannix on Wednesday, according to the AP. But even if he posts bail, Mannix would remain jailed — at least until a Thursday morning hearing on the warrant from Colorado, the AP reports.
