WCDA Sentencing Result

Defendant Convicted in 2021 Paradise Park Murder Sentenced to Life in Prison

The Washoe County District Attorney’s Office has announced that Charles Dwayne Jones, age 28 has been sentenced to life in prison for the July 2021 murder of 28-year-old Travis Beutler. Jones pled guilty in February to one count of Second-Degree Murder with the Use of a Deadly Weapon and two counts of Attempted Murder with the Use of a Deadly Weapon. He was sentenced last Wednesday by Judge Barry Breslow following a two-day hearing to a maximum term of life in prison, with parole eligibility beginning after a minimum of 50 years has been served.  

The case against Jones began on July 9, 2021, when the Reno Police Department (RPD) responded to a shots fired call near Paradise Park. When patrol officers arrived, they located Beutler and two female victims. Beutler had been shot multiple times and was deceased. The two female victims, Beutler’s sister and his fiancé, had also been shot and were seriously injured. The surviving victims were transported to the hospital and the RPD Robbery Homicide Unit (RHU) was called to the scene to investigate the shooting. Over the course of the investigation, it was determined that Jones was the shooter. The investigation suggested that Jones shot Beutler and the two females as revenge for a previous incident where Jones was sprayed with bear mace. However, Jones was mistaken in his belief that the victims were involved. Jones, who had been arrested for an outstanding warrant when contacted by police on July 10, 2021, was subsequently booked on the murder charge and this office filed formal criminal charges against him.

At sentencing, Deputy District Attorney Nicole Hicks highlighted the aggravating contrast between the actions of Jones and the surviving victims after he shot Beutler 6 times and then shot 3 times into a car occupied by the victim’s fiancé and sister. DDA N. Hicks pointed to evidence that the defendant ran through the adjoining apartment complex after the shooting and discarded his clothing and the gun and then walked to a convenience store and bought a snack. Meanwhile, Beutler’s sister sat with her brother dying in her arms, not even realizing she had been shot herself, while the victim’s fiancé remained in the car screaming that she was going to die having been shot 3 times. The fiancé was ultimately left blind due to the shooting.