Retired UNLV social work professor, 76, found stabbed to death in home

HENDERSON, Nev. -- Authorities say a 76-year-old former university professor who was found dead in his Henderson home after not being seen for more than a month was stabbed to death.

The Clark County coroner said Thursday that Leroy H. Pelton died of multiple stab wounds. The case was ruled a homicide.

Henderson police say Pelton was found dead Saturday evening by officers conducting a welfare check after neighbors on Swans Chance Avenue said he hadn’t been seen or heard from since early November.

Pelton was an author and professor emeritus at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Salem State University in Massachusetts who wrote dozens of books, articles, reports and papers about child welfare and social services. Friends told CBS affiliate KLAS he was also an advocate for the homeless and a music lover.

“Anybody that knew Dr. Pelton knows that he didn’t have an angry or mean bone in his body,” friend Joe Sacco told the station.

Pelton had been a faculty member at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas since 1997, and retired in 2013, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“We are shocked and saddened by the news of the passing of Professor Emeritus Leroy Pelton,” the university said in a statement released to the paper. “He was well respected both on campus and in the community, and he will be missed dearly. Our sincere condolences go out to his family and friends, his former colleagues, and the many students he taught during his tenure.”

Police have not released a possible motive in the slaying, or identified any suspects.