Las Vegas Gambler Left Body in Car Trunk for 10 Weeks

Posted on: October 14, 2022, 02:43h. 

Last updated on: October 14, 2022, 04:21h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

A gambler accused of killing his business partner likely left the body in the trunk of his car for over two months, according to court filings.

Tony Danh
Police examine the white BMW, registered to Tony Danh, on August 19, after finding Amir Haggi’s body in the trunk. It’s believed Haggi was killed on June 7. (Image: KSNV)

Tony Danh, 37, was arrested on September 29 in San Diego County, CA., on suspicion of murder. A month earlier, Las Vegas Metro Police found the body of Amir Haggi, from Phoenix, in the trunk of a BMW at Budget Suites, an apartment complex on W. Tropicana Avenue.

Together, Danh and Haggi ran a business called Elite360. Danh was known to have a gambling problem and had asked Haggi for money shortly before the latter was reported missing. Haggi was last seen alive in the Phoenix area on June 5 or 6.

Foul Odor

Police were called to Budget Suites on August 19 after a member of the public reported a foul odor emanating from the car. It had been dropped off by a tow truck at 10 am that morning.

Officers could see black trash bags, rubber medical gloves, and a bottle of ammonia through the vehicle’s windows.

In the trunk, they found “a badly decomposing human body partially wrapped in trash bags,” according to court documents. The body was too decomposed to determine the victim’s sex or cause of death.

Police discovered the car was registered to Danh and tied to a missing person’s case.

When the Metro Police crime laboratory examined the car, investigators found that parts of the floorboard and seats had been cut away. They also found paperwork in the name of Tony Danh and a pair of pants with a sticker with the name Danh on it.

Traced to Las Vegas

The coroner determined that Haggi died from two bullets to the head. Investigators are working on the theory that he was killed on or around June 7.

Haggi’s cellphone records can be traced to Las Vegas on that day, and Danh’s car was picked up in the city by a license plate reader.

Also on that day, Danh began renting a storage unit in Las Vegas. When police examined the unit after their discovery of the body, they found a semi-dried fluid on the floor. This was “consistent with decomposition seeping from the trunk,” according to court records.

Car tracking records showed that Danh returned to Budget Suites on August 19 at around 2 pm, 10 minutes before police first arrived to investigate the suspicious vehicle.

Danh is due in court on in San Diego County on November 4. He will likely be transferred to Las Vegas to face an open murder charge.