Left inset: Kennedi Oriti (Affordable Cremation and Burial Service/Carrissa McCarthy). Right inset: Maurice Vanderhall (Henderson Police Department). Background: The Nevada apartment complex where Kennedi Oriti was stabbed 20 times and killed by her boyfriend Maurice Vanderhall while moving out of the condo they lived in together (KSNV).
A Nevada man told police "I killed my girlfriend" after stabbing her 20 times in the face and neck while she was moving out of the condo they lived in together.
Kennedi Oriti, 26, had returned one last time to the Clark County residence she shared with Maurice Vanderhall, 28, to "make sure she had everything and say goodbye" when he began plunging a knife into her repeatedly, according to his arrest report, which was obtained by local CBS affiliate KLAS.
Online court records viewed by Law&Crime show that Vanderhall confessed to the slaying and pleaded guilty on March 17 to second-degree murder with a deadly weapon.
Vanderhall was arrested on Dec. 2, 2025, by Henderson Police officers who responded to a call placed that Tuesday night around 6:30 p.m. about the stabbing. When they arrived at the residence, located within an apartment complex in the 200 block of West Horizon Ridge Parkway — about 17 miles southwest of Las Vegas — Oriti was discovered with multiple "knife wounds to her face and neck" and Vanderhall was found covered in blood, per the arrest report.
A family friend who was with Oriti and helping her move out of the apartment told police that Oriti went back inside one last time to "say goodbye to Maurice" and check if she left anything behind. The friend said he tried calling Oriti multiple times after she didn't come back out, but she never answered.
After attacking Oriti, Vanderhall stabbed himself multiple times in the forearm and knee, according to the arrest report. He told investigators that he was attempting to die by suicide and also tried to hang himself inside a closet. Three different knives were found covered in blood inside the condo, including a butcher knife.
Oriti was murdered just five days before her 27th birthday.
"I have so many beautiful memories with Kennedi and my heart breaks knowing she is gone," a friend posted on Oriti's online obituary page, while sharing photos of them together on a group trip to Las Vegas at the end of October. "I watched her grow so much. I was and am so proud of her," the friend said.
Vanderhall is scheduled to be sentenced on May 6.
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