Michele Carson Was Killed by Her Ex on a Celebratory Trip to Las Vegas

On November 7, 2010, target shooters in a desert area near Las Vegas discovered a woman’s body that had been burned and buried under rocks. Investigators found she’d died by strangulation. Las Vegas police identified the victim as 25-year-old Michele Carson.

Carson lived in West Covina, Calif. Driving to Vegas was supposed to be a fun getaway—she’d graduated from college two years earlier and was on her way to finishing up graduate school with a master's degree. But during her trip, Carson met up with a former boyfriend who lived in the city: Justin Burns, then 27.

Burns had been violent toward Carson in the past, and that escalated to murder during their Las Vegas rendezvous.

Carson and Burns met when they were both students at Cal State Fullerton, where Carson studied criminal justice and Burns played basketball from 2004 to 2007. Their relationship lasted, on and off, for five years, during which time Burns had slapped Carson according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Hyunkag Cho, a professor at Michigan State University’s School of Social Work, notes that their ages when the pair first got involved could have made it more difficult for Carson to navigate the violence she’d experienced. Cho tells A&E Crime + Investigation that college-age young adults “are still exploring intimate relationships and don't necessarily have a good sense of healthy relationships.”

People that age can “perceive abusive relationships as temporary, expecting it to be different soon,” Cho adds.

In 2010, Carson appeared to be on track for professional success, while Burns’s life had hit a few speed bumps. She’d graduated in 2008, while Burns had dropped out with no diploma. With her master’s degree, Carson planned to work helping young people avoid being trapped in the criminal justice system. Burns, who, in 2007, was let go by a pro basketball team in Portugal, was couch surfing and had no job.

“Domestic violence at its core is about coercive control,” Maureen Curtis, vice president of victims service agency Safe Horizon, the largest of its type in the U.S., tells A&E Crime + Investigation. 

Curtis explains that a “person is losing control because his partner is excelling in areas that he's not and is moving on in a direction that he's not, certainly that could escalate the violence.” 

Severe jealousy can be another indicator of future lethal violence, she adds: “Jealousy is not just about jealousy of another person that my partner may be interested in. Jealousy of the fact that they're moving on, they're getting their master’s and I'm not, I'm stuck.”

Carson and Burns had broken up about four months before they met in Las Vegas. Carson traveled there with her friend Vicki Rojas, but investigators believed she and Burns met in an attempt to give their relationship another shot.

But their reunion didn’t proceed smoothly. Burns asked Rojas if she thought Carson was a good person. Rojas then witnessed a verbal argument between Carson and Burns.

Rojas returned to California while Carson stayed in Nevada with Burns. The two went out for dinner on November 6, and police named Burns as the last person seen with Carson. The two had again been arguing.

“Abusers may try to apologize and reconcile to regain their power and control over victims,” Cho says. “If an abuser found those attempts unsuccessful, violence can escalate quickly.”

Curtis notes that even with a history of reuniting after breakups, an abuser’s violence could intensify if he believed this was a final separation and his partner would be permanently leaving him. “Leaving can be the most dangerous time for a survivor of intimate partner violence,” she states. 

Police initially couldn’t locate Burns to question him about Carson’s death. It turned out he’d fled the state. He spent months hiding with relatives in Mississippi before he was finally arrested in March 2011.

Many people in their lives were surprised to learn that Burns had acted violently toward Carson. “He was a really bright kid, fun to coach,” Burns’s college basketball coach Bob Burton said after his arrest. “He was never a violent person. People really liked him.”

Carson’s father said, “There was no way we would think he was that type of person.”

Rojas regretted not speaking up about the violence Carson experienced. “I never thought it would get to the point where he would take her life,” she said in 2012.

Burns was charged with Carson’s murder, but for years used procedural delays to avoid going to trial. From behind bars, he sent a letter to Carson’s parents, which her father said was full of excuses but little accountability. But Carson’s father did meet with Burns and told him to take responsibility and stop putting off the trial.

Burns ultimately agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder on July 31, 2017. He received a sentence of 10 to 25 years on September 26, 2017.

Burns was denied parole in 2020. He didn’t attend the hearing, but Carson’s father spoke against his release.

On June 8, 2023, Burns died by suicide at age 39 in Nevada’s High Desert State Prison. An autopsy listed his cause of death as asphyxia due to strangulation.

“I am relieved that I will no longer have to attend parole hearings and worry about Burns getting out of prison and murdering again,” Carson’s father told a reporter.

One year after Carson’s death, her family told The San Gabriel Valley Tribune that learning about her experience had made them want to bring more attention to the problem of domestic violence. Carson’s father reiterated that goal in 2023.

Curtis says understanding of the issue has improved between Carson’s 2010 death and today: “There's a lot more awareness of domestic violence, particularly intimate partner violence.”