Larry Markotay, former Boulder City Township constable, was found dead in Henderson on Tuesday after he failed to show up for his felony trial earlier in the day.

His death was confirmed by his family and in the courtroom Wednesday morning.

In a statement to the newspaper, the family thanked the jurors and the judge in his case for their service, however, “Larry couldn’t handle the betrayal and pain he has suffered through this. Please remember him as a kind and good man who served his community and fellow officers with total devotion and care. He will be missed by his family and friends and he was loved.”

Markotay’s attorney Roger Harris said Markotay shot himself in a Sunset Station Hotel & Casino room around 2 p.m.
Markotay’s body was found by Henderson police after he failed to appear to the second day of a Clark County District Court trial where he was defending eight felony counts related to the break-in of his ex-girlfriend’s home.

The charges include burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, grand larceny of a firearm (three counts), possession of stolen property (three counts) and theft.
Monday’s court proceedings, for which Markotay was present, saw state prosecutors argue that Markotay stole three handguns from ex-girlfriend Cathleen Winterrowd after breaking into her Boulder City home in February 2010.
Prosecutors argued that Markotay also stole a computer from Winterrowd’s home, which he then took to his own home to read Winterrowd’s email correspondences with a new boyfriend, before returning the computer back to her home.

Boulder City attorney Roger Harris, Markotay’s defense attorney, depicted a man with judgment clouded by a prescription drug addiction, who owned the guns in question.

Harris also argued that the computer was not stolen because it was returned.

“Bad things that he did, true,” Harris said in his opening argument. “(But) he’s not a burglar. He’s not a thief.”