Fernley murder suspects arrested in Silver Springs

SILVER SPRINGS - Two Silver Springs residents were arrested in front of the Village Market about noon Wednesday as suspects in the Sept. 30 strangling death of a 76-year-old Fernley woman.

Lyon County investigators were tipped that the suspects were seen at the store. Deputies stopped a 1988 Dodge Ram Charger leaving the parking lot.

Verlyn Roy Colledge, 31, was driving his Ram Charger when deputies and investigators arrived and was arrested without incident. Samantha Mae Tubbs, 22, was found wrapped in a blanket behind the vehicle's rear seat, where investigators said she was trying to conceal herself, according to a department spokesman.

In a subsequent interview, Tubbs confessed to burglarizing a Fernley apartment, where she was caught in the act by Ethyl R. Booton. Tubbs admitted having a physical confrontation with Booton as she tried to escape, investigators said.

Both suspects were booked into the Lyon County Jail in Yerington for investigation of first-degree murder. They also were arrested on warrants for felony possession of stolen property from the suspected burglary of the murder victim's home. Bail was set at $20,000 on the burglary charge, but the suspects were held without bail on the murder allegations.

Ethyl Booton was found strangled to death on her bed in the Circle Drive apartment she shared with her son. The apartment had been ransacked, son Michael Booton told investigators.

Property positively identified as taken from the apartment was recovered from Colledge's vehicle Saturday by Lyon County investigators. The arrest warrants for possession of stolen property were then issued, naming the suspects.

Monday, investigators asked for help from the public in locating the suspects. Descriptions, but not the names, of Colledge and Tubbs were announced after Tubbs was reportedly seen in Churchill and Lyon counties trying to sell videotapes and other items taken from the Booton home.