Police use mannequin to catch suspect killing homeless men

LAS VEGAS, NV (KTRK) -- Shane Schindler, 30, finds himself in the Clark County Detention Center tonight on a concealed weapons charge and is being questioned in the murders of two homeless men.

Detectives placed a mannequin at a spot where homeless men were murdered.

Police say Schindler was caught on surveillance bashing the mannequin in the head with a four-pound hammer. The mannequin looked like a homeless man sleeping.

Police say they placed a decoy mannequin as part of their ongoing investigation into the murders of two homeless men. The killings occurred while the men were sleeping.

Police say 46-year-old Daniel Aldape and 60-year-old David Dunn were the two homeless men murdered earlier this year. Each man died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, possibly by a hammer.

Their bodies were found in the area where surveillance cameras caught Schindler destroying the mannequin on Feb. 22.

Schindler has not been charged with murder, but has attracted the attention of police investigators.

The police report says Schindler admitted to striking the decoy mannequin, but he tells police he knew it was a mannequin.

Potts says when you're homeless, safety is a top priority.

"It's not too good for a homeless person to be in struggle already and then for them to be murdered for no apparent reason, it's just a tragedy," said Potts.