What Las Vegas, Nevada’s Paul Nuttall did to Idaho’s Sandra DiFelice

Sandra Renee Kistler DiFelice of Idaho, United States was 25 when she died on December 26, 1980.

From Idaho, DiFelice later moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. In 1977, she gave birth to a daughter.

Sandra DiFelice

DiFelice’s mother Mescal Olena Nelson Kistler was born in Baker, Benson County, North Dakota, USA. Kistler’s father Nels Nelson was born in Sweden while her mother Bertha Smith Nelson was born in Ohio, USA.

DiFelice and her daughter shared a home in Las Vegas with a roommate. The name of the roommate was not disclosed.

At 9:31 p.m. on December 26, 1980, DiFelice was found dead inside her residence in Las Vegas. That night, her daughter was at the house of the girl’s grandparents.

The house is several blocks from the command center of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The officers who responded to the scene found evidence that DiFelice was sexually assaulted.

Paul Nuttall

In December 2021, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department obtained a deoxyribonucleic acid sample from Paul Nuttall, then 63, of Las Vegas. When an investigator asked him if he wanted to talk about DiFelice’s murder, he said he did not know who the investigator was talking about.

On October 14, 2022, the DNA sample taken from Nuttall matched evidence taken from under DiFelice’s fingernails. On October 27, 2022, he was arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas.

On November 1, 2022, Nuttall was held without bail. He was charged with open murder with the use of a deadly weapon, sexual assault with a deadly weapon and burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon.

On December 2, 2022, Judge Christy Craig found Nuttall incompetent to stand trial. The judge committed the suspect to the Lakes Crossing center, a maximum security psychiatric facility in Sparks, Nevada.