Henderson police did not formally notify the City Council about an inmate's December 2024 death until two months later, a delay the city now says violated a state law requiring notification within 48 hours. The inmate, 36-year-old Jaime Chrusch, died by suicide inside the Henderson Detention Center, and the admission has reopened questions about how the department handles in-custody deaths.
The city's account, detailed by Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Casey Harrison, centers on Nevada Revised Statutes § 211.117, which requires the person administering a city jail to report a prisoner's death to the city's governing body within 48 hours, according to Nevada's legislative statutes. NRS § 211.002 defines “basic demographics.” According to the city, Henderson police violated the reporting requirement, and the Henderson Detention Center where Chrusch died is operated by the Henderson Police Department.
Chrusch had been booked into the jail on suspicion of domestic violence six days before his death. On Nov. 30, 2024, he used a cord from a wall-mounted phone to hang himself in a holding cell. The Clark County coroner's office ruled his death a suicide.
Chadwick's Apology, Two Months Late
Then-Police Chief Hollie Chadwick sent an email apologizing to Councilwoman Monica Larson and City Manager Stephanie Garcia-Vause on Feb. 6, 2025, according to documents the city released. “My apologies that this notification is beyond the 48 hours,” Chadwick wrote, per reporting from 8NewsNow. “I take full responsibility and moving forward it will not happen again,” she added. The city's Sept. 24 statement described that email as the first official notification of Chrusch's death, and the city said the department was not compliant with the state notification protocol under Chadwick's leadership.
In an Aug. 20 interview with the Review-Journal, Chadwick said she notified the city attorney's and city manager's offices immediately upon learning of Chrusch's death, though exactly when she learned of it remains unclear. Henderson police also did not issue a news release announcing Chrusch's death, a departure from practices the Metropolitan Police Department and the Nevada Department of Corrections typically follow after in-custody deaths.
Chadwick's Firing and a Mayoral Run
Chadwick was fired as Henderson police chief on March 6, 2025. Chadwick is now running for Henderson mayor against incumbent Michelle Romero.
A Second Death and New Procedures
The department's handling of jail deaths has changed since current Chief Reggie Rader took over in July 2025, according to city spokesperson Madeleine Skains. That shift was visible after 49-year-old Jacob Toroian died on Sept. 29, 2026. Toroian, who was held on a failure-to-appear warrant tied to a 2025 misdemeanor petit larceny charge, was found dead by corrections officers during a routine inmate check, according to the department's Sept. 30 news release. Authorities have not released a cause or manner of death, and the coroner's office said the cause and manner were pending as Rader awaited autopsy and toxicology reports.
This time, the department issued a news release — something Rader confirmed reflects a changed procedure for public notification of in-custody deaths, implemented after he became chief and before Toroian's death. Rader said the release was issued to align with industry best practices, and that the department takes in-custody deaths very seriously and should be transparent about jail fatalities. Skains said the city of Henderson will now issue news releases after all officer-involved shootings and inmate deaths. In an earlier statement, the city said Henderson police were in compliance with the 48-hour reporting requirement, having taken steps to correct the department's prior noncompliance.
A Statewide Pattern of Noncompliance
Henderson's reporting failure was not an isolated case. As of April 2024, none of the five jails in Clark County was following the 2019 transparency law, according to the Las Vegas Sun, which found that none of the four city jails in Southern Nevada had submitted the required biannual reports to their city councils. A Henderson police spokesperson told the Sun at the time that the department did not create or send any regularly scheduled reports to the City Council, though Henderson said biannual reports would begin that summer. After the paper contacted municipalities, at least three Clark County cities said they were working to rectify their noncompliance and schedule reports for upcoming council meetings. The Sun also noted the law lacks any language specifying repercussions for jurisdictions that fail to meet its requirements, and as a result it had never been enforced.
Chris Peterson, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, said public notices of detention-center deaths support accountability and can reveal harmful procedural patterns. The gap between that stated value and the reality uncovered in Henderson's case — a two-month delay before the City Council itself was told — is now central to how residents and officials alike are weighing the department's recent promises of reform.
