The party started smoothly enough. Iman Aubrey had booked suite 13335 at the Luxor hotel-casino the night of June 18 for a paid swingers mixer hosted by her company, Purrfect LV. There were drinks, light hors d’oeuvres and a lot of suggestive mingling. ¶ Then, just as the party was winding down, Jason Sindelar showed up. He arrived with a group that included his girlfriend, Charmaine Kemp, and two other women. According to witnesses, they were already drunk. So was Demario Reynolds, Aubrey’s fiancé and a former UNLV football player, who had also been using cocaine and ecstasy. Reynolds was also one of Sindelar’s best friends, which makes what happened next ironic — and tragic. A violent brawl would break out between the two men. A brawl that by some accounts lasted nearly a half-hour — longer than a regulated mixed martial arts bout. A brawl that raged through the entire suite — from the living room to the bathroom to the bedroom. Reynolds and Sindelar began the night best friends, but by the early hours of the next morning, their relationship filled just two blanks on a police report: Victim and suspect. For Reynolds, the night that started at the Luxor ended with his death. Sindelar, a trained and experienced mixed martial arts fighter, wound up at the Clark County Detention Center — facing the prospect of a murder charge. What happened? Drugs. Alcohol. Pride. Anger. Rochelle Galloway, who arrived at the party with Sindelar, says he’d already been drinking and using drugs when he got to the suite. According to her, an argument broke out between Sindelar and his girlfriend at about 2 a.m., right after they arrived at the party. He became angry at her for breaking his phone, and the fight began to get physical. That’s when Reynolds got involved.
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“(Reynolds) told him to calm down because he was interrupting the party and making his fiancée look bad,” Galloway says. “(Reynolds) said, ‘If you want to hit someone, don’t hit her, hit me.’” He had no idea what his words would unleash. What really happened that night? Drugs. Alcohol. Pride. Anger — and maybe something else. Was that explosive cocktail set aflame by mixed martial arts’ ethos of glorified aggression?
Combat sports on trial A judge dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges against Sindelar in January, noting that the coroner’s report couldn’t definitively say that the fight killed Reynolds. In the maelstrom that night, there were other factors at work, most notably the cocaine, ecstasy and alcohol in Reynolds’ system that helped kick his heart into overdrive. Even though the coroner’s office ruled his manner of death a homicide, it also said Reynolds died of a drug overdose aggravated by the brawl — that is, “other significant conditions including a collapse following a physical altercation.” “I don’t think mixed martial arts or Jason’s exposure to professional fighting had anything
to do with the criminal case,” says Andrea Luem, the public defender who represented Sindelar. “The district attorney may have said, ‘Hey, look, here’s a guy who can hit harder, so we need to go after him a little bit harder.’ Reynolds died from a drug overdose. This isn’t about mixed martial arts.” It’s a vindication for Sindelar in more than one sense. “I think the common perception (that mixed martial arts fighters are more prone to violent acts) is merely that, a perception,” Sindelar writes in an email to Desert Companion. (Sindelar agreed to be interviewed only by email. Public defender Luem vetted his responses.) “I don’t believe that MMA fighters are more prone to violent acts. I believe that when an MMA fighter is involved in a violent act or criminal case, there is simply more media attention placed upon them. The media seems to exploit the connection because it would make a more salacious story.” Does he think his mixed martial arts background made him more likely to commit violence? “Absolutely not,” he writes.
Chorus of concern Tell that to the public. Comments on news stories that appeared on the web show that many also hold the culture of professional fighting at least partially responsible for the death of Demario Reynolds. Galloway, who was friends with both Reynolds and Sindelar, doesn’t mince words about what she witnessed that night. “People need to know that mixed martial arts and martial arts are a weapon,” she says. “If you don’t use your craft the right way, something like this can happen to someone else.” Sindelar’s case isn’t isolated. In March 2010, a mixed martial artist in California allegedly killed his friend and sparring partner after ingesting hallucinogenic mushrooms. The accused killer, Jarrod Wyatt, allegedly removed the victim’s heart and half of his face. A woman accused professional fighter Michael Whitehead in April 2010 of sexual assault at his home in Las Vegas. And these are just recent headlines.
By the next morning, two former best friends would fill two blanks on a police report: victim and suspect.
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