Victim offered suspect a lift slug

BOISE -- Investigators feared the worst and now the case of a missing Reno man has been solved.

It's a complicated story spanning about 350 miles and crossing state lines, but sheriff's investigators say it comes down to murder.

Fifty-eight-year-old Peter Braun of Reno, Nevada was being a Good Samaritan, offering to give a lift to Winston Kelly, a man he just met.

It's a good deed that police say cost him his life.

“He was diagnosed with terminal cancer and was coming out to visit relatives out in the Elko area.  He'd been around here for a few days and based upon the info we've been able to gather, he left Elko headed back toward Reno,” said Elko County Sheriff Dale Lotspeich.

That's when Braun met up with the suspect in Battle Mountain, Nevada.  Kelly was looking to hitch a ride to Owyhee. The two set off to Golconda, where they got on back roads.

Somewhere near Midas, Nevada, Braun and Kelly got into a violent argument.

“There was definitely a struggle at the scene.  We found glass from a broken window on the truck, evidence that someone had been run over, and quite a bit of blood at the scene,” said Lotspeich.

The Elko County Sheriff believes Kelly stabbed Braun and ran over him with his truck, then drove to the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, where he dumped Braun’s body near the town of Owyhee.

Winston Kelly has been charged with first-degree murder.

Kelly then stopped at his brother's home to fix the window and continued toward Mountain Home, where deputies found him passed out in the victim's truck, with blood spattered throughout the vehicle.

“He was extremely intoxicated when we took him into custody and belligerent during the booking process, so we didn't get a lot from him there.  It was actually yesterday (Wednesday) morning when our investigators contacted him that he cooperated and provided information,” said Lotspeich.

Kelly led police to begin looking in the Owyhee desert and they began an air search for clues.

“It had just been initiated when we got information that he had dumped the body on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation and had drawn a rough map on how to get there,” said Lotspeich.

Winston Kelly, 33, is now being held in the Elmore County Jail where this afternoon he was charged with first-degree murder.

The body of Peter Braun will be transported to Reno for autopsy.