Alleged Murderer's Frightening Mugshot Gets Even More Disturbing in Light of Witness Account
Sometimes, looks deceive. At other times, they reveal. This story involves the latter phenomenon.
On Aug. 14, Las Vegas police arrested James Gina III, 50, on suspicion of murdering his girlfriend, Celina Rebholz. The details of the alleged crime combined with the suspect’s physical appearance paint a dark picture.
Gina’s mugshot shows ghastly black tattoos covering the front of his neck, the entire lower half of his face, around and above his eyes and on the top of his shaved head in the shape of horns. The tattoos strike the impartial observer as a mask for a tormented soul.
Please click below regarding the arrest of James Gina III the suspect in a homicide that occurred August 14, 2023, near Desert Inn Road and Eastern Avenue. pic.twitter.com/pKYMoUff3a
— LVMPD (@LVMPD) August 16, 2023
Las Vegas police learned of the alleged murder from an unnamed male witness.
On Friday, KLAS-TV reported that the witness told police he had heard Gina threaten to kill Rebholz during an argument. “I’ll put three in you if you don’t shut up,” Gina said, according to the arrest report.
The witness then left with Gina’s mother to go gambling for several hours. When the witness returned, he said Gina was acting “frantic and distraught.”
Gina took the witness into a bedroom where Rebholz lay naked, shot through the chest, still alive and “making gurgling sounds.” According to the police report, Gina said he was “fiddling with his gun” and had “accidentally” shot his girlfriend.
Unsure of what to do, the witness left Gina’s house. He later learned from Gina via text message that Rebholz had died. The witness returned the next day and discovered that Gina had hidden Rebholz’s body in the attic.
Gina then asked the witness to drive him and his mother to pick up a rental car. The alleged murderer did not want to use his own vehicle to move Rebholz’s body.
This request appears to have convinced the witness to overcome his reluctance and go to the authorities. According to the police report, the witness was “fearful that if anyone knew he was at the police station, he would be killed.”
Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Thursday that Gina has a decades-long criminal record.
Predictably and unfortunately, Gina’s five felony convictions include multiple counts related to domestic violence. Court records show that Gina’s first arrest in Clark County occurred in 2002.
Apart from renewed prayer — an advisable practice under any circumstances — one hardly knows how to respond to such stories as this. We must remember that we all carry inside us the seeds of our own destruction.
One more thing appears certain. Unless one’s professional responsibilities require it, as in the case of a criminal investigator or a psychologist, it is best not to dwell on the inner life of an alleged murderer.
Indeed, one can only imagine the simmering rage that must have plagued Gina before eventually consuming him.
Then again, Gina’s mugshot leaves little of that inner darkness to the imagination.
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