Las Vegas judge frees man who waited months in jail for mental health treatment; he then stalked a mother and threatened a mass shooting

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A judge released a man who threatened a mass shooting because he waited months in jail for mental health treatment — within weeks, police arrested him again after he harassed and stalked his high school classmate.

In May, Matthew DeSavio, 35, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to three charges and agreed to a 6-to-15-year prison sentence.

The charges stem from incidents in 2023, where DeSavio showed up at Alicia Runyan’s office following years of harassment. Runyan herself is a therapist and attended grade school with DeSavio. Metro police officers arrested DeSavio on harassment and terror-related charges five hours before the 2023 Stanley Cup Final after he made several threatening posts about the game.

“Is it going to take him killing me for this to be on your radar?” Runyan said about the years of asking for help. “What are you going to do to protect my family?”

“Would you say he was infatuated with you?” 8 News Now Investigator David Charns asked Runyan.

“Yes,” she said. “It seems to be the case.”

Metro police arrested DeSavio in a similar case in October 2022 for making threats about a shooting on the Las Vegas Strip. Records show in November 2022, Clark County District Court Judge Christy Craig ordered DeSavio be transferred to one of two state psychiatric facilities to regain competency. Craig oversees Clark County’s competency court and decides, from psychiatrists’ findings, if a defendant is competent or not competent to stand trial.

DeSavio awaited treatment in jail for 78 days, which his public defender said violated his due process rights. The right to a fair trial — and the right to become competent to stand trial — is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution as interpreted by courts.

As of this month, there are 239 beds in two state facilities for this kind of treatment — treatment that decrees from the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health requires to be “prompt” and “restorative” and treatment that is required to begin within seven days of a judge’s incompetency ruling.

By the end of March 2023 — five months after his arrest — DeSavio remained in a cell at the Clark County Detention Center awaiting treatment. Craig again ordered the state to move him into one of their facilities. After 150 days of waiting — and eight days after the state failed to transfer him after her second request — Craig dismissed the case.

Matthew DeSavio was a free man. Within days, he started leaving voicemails on Runyan’s phone.

“I just want you as a friend, Alicia, I miss you, I need you as a friend,” he said in one call.

“The first message he’s like, ‘I’m just calling my best friend,’ which would be me. ‘I’m just checking in you,’” Runyan said.

The over-the-phone check-ins soon escalated to in-person visits. Two months after his release, DeSavio was coming to Runyan’s office attempting to find her. Videos the 8 News Now Investigators obtained show him leaving notes and letters. The letters mention a previous protection notice that required him to stay away from Runyan and her husband.

Runyan, at this time pregnant with her third child, alerted police that DeSavio was attempting to find her.

“They said they would take him to jail, and he was because he came back the very next day,” Runyan said.

And that is exactly what he did. This time, after years of Runyan ignoring him, DeSavio’s demeanor changed.

“Bye Alicia,” one Facebook post in June 2023 said, alongside a threat of a mass shooting at the Vegas Golden Knights game. The threat, which the 8 News Now Investigators first reported, made national headlines as officers said they thwarted a possible terror attack hours before the big game.

“I’m coming for you guys tonight and I hope you get every [expletive] police officer in Vegas Golden Knights there to defend you!” one message said, according to police. “Hope Sin City is ready for the Mandalay Bay massacre part duex [sic].”

“Now everybody wants to take this seriously,” said about the change in tune. By June 8, 2023, DeSavio was back in jail and back in the system that let him go.

“Do you think he was actually going to do something to you?” Charns asked Runyan.

“I do believe that,” she said. “He may have tried to kill me; I honestly believe that.”

DeSavio’s case is one of several Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Jay Raman mentions when arguing against similar dismissals — dismissals like DeSavio’s 2022 case involving a mass shooting.

“The fact that people are not getting to those services within seven days is bad for everybody,” Raman said. “When you release somebody whose charged with a serious criminal offense who had a mental illness, and that mental illness has not been address. What’s going to happen?”

The seven-day window is a timeframe the state set through a legal decree: The Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health has seven days to transport a defendant deemed incompetent from jail to one of its facilities.

“How often is that seven-day window actually happening?” Charns asked Raman.

“Never,” she said.

In Craig’s courtroom, Raman can only represent the community’s best interest. He serves in the role of prosecutor, but more so argues for reasons why Craig should not dismiss the case entirely. In DeSavio’s first case, he waited 150 days for help only to have that first case dismissed entirely, setting him free.

In court a second time on the charges related to Runyan, doctors found DeSavio well enough mentally for Craig to rule that he could stand trial.

“We don’t control anything in that process,” Raman said.

“You’re just sitting ducks waiting for them to come back?” David asked.

“Yes,” Raman said.

Sitting ducks who, in this case, watched Runyan become a sitting duck herself.

“The court system failed, the state failed, the police,” Runyan said. “It’s really hard to get someone to listen to you.”

Runyan said someone finally listened as she told Clark County District Court Judge Nadia Krall what a decade of stalking did to her and her family.

“He threatened to kill my husband and shoot up our home calling me vile names and making me fear for my life every day,” Runyan said during DeSavio’s sentencing in June.

Everyone feels a little safer, though it is little comfort overall.

“I’m glad that for the next five years he’s in jail. That’s what I’ll say,” Runyan said.

In going along with the plea agreement, Judge Nadia Krall said she was sending DeSavio to prison to prevent another 1 October. During the sentencing, DeSavio apologized and said he was ashamed.

To address the backlog, the state plans to add hundreds of new mental health treatment beds at a new Clark County facility. In 2023, the Nevada Legislature budgeted about $60 million for the project. The division was also working on converting Las Vegas city jail cells into forensic beds.

As of early October, the average wait time to be transferred from jail to one of the two facilities was 78 days, according to a spokesperson. The decrease in time was due to more staff and added beds — some 50 added earlier this year.

As of September, about 100 people on average were awaiting a treatment bed in Clark County, records said. Craig did not respond to an interview request.

8 News Now Investigator David Charns can be reached at dcharns@8newsnow.com .

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