'Done something bad': Teen squeezed in random murder during first period, then returned to class

A Nevada man is facing just shy of two decades behind bars for a totally random and fatal stabbing that he was able to sandwich between classes at high school when he was still a teenager.

On Tuesday, Ethan Goin, 21, pleaded guilty to one count of murder in the second degree with use of a deadly weapon over the brutal August 2021 killing of 48-year-old Vergel Guintu.

The now-admitted killer was just 16 years old when he committed the crime on Kenton Place in Las Vegas, Law&Crime previously reported.

The defendant delivered his plea before 8th Judicial District Court Judge Carli Kierny. During the hearing, the defense and prosecutors indicated the two sides had agreed to an 18-year prison sentence, according to a courtroom report by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

In the absence of a plea, Goin's trial was slated to begin on March 8.

On Aug. 27, 2021, Goin left first period before choosing a house, stabbing Guintu, and then returning to school, a declaration of arrest from Clark County Family and Youth Services alleges.

Late in the morning on the day in question, Guintu, his wife, and mother-in-law heard a noise, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Guintu went to check on the sound and was stabbed in the neck. The victim's wife said she saw the assailant, clad in all-black and a mask, exit through a window in the house.

Guintu had just taken his 9-year-old to school and was in the kitchen when he heard the noise, according to law enforcement. His wife was upstairs and his mother-in-law was downstairs. The mother-in-law said she heard another noise moments later and then found her son-in-law lying in a pool of blood. The wife saw her husband as she made her way downstairs and then called 911.

The day after the stabbing, a neighbor told investigators about a suspicious person in the area in the moments before the 911 call was made, according to the Review-Journal. That neighbor described a white male with blond hair who was walking due south of the crime scene. Authorities would later note this description aligned with blond hair found on Guintu's corpse during his autopsy. The neighbor said the suspicious man wore all black, put something inside a backpack before leaving, and had red marks on his arms.

The next day, police say they saw Goin getting into a ride-hailing vehicle. He was wearing all black and carrying a black backpack at the time. After an initial bout of cooperation, Goin was asked about blood on his boots and ran, police said. He was eventually found hiding in a parking structure at Summerlin Hospital and arrested.

During a custodial interview, the defendant allegedly told police he left school that day because he was being bullied. Goin said he recalled jumping a wall and staying in someone else's backyard for a while, but insisted what happened next was "a blur."

He did, however, remember going through a window and commented about it to detectives, "indicating he had done something bad, that's his wording, at this residence," according to law enforcement.

The defendant said he discovered a knife in his bag that had blood on it after he got home that day. At the time of his arrest, he was on his way to a friend's house in order to hide the knife, police said.

"Goin did not wish to inform the police of his actions because he knew his life would be over," police wrote in the arrest report.

The defendant, police said, repeatedly Googled "Summerlin News" while in custody to learn Guintu had been stabbed to death.

In court this week, the defendant told the judge he was voluntarily admitting his guilt after participating in a settlement conference, understood what was happening, and had a 10th-grade education.

The case trudged on through the legal system for years after Goin was subject to multiple mental health competency determinations. A court finally found him competent to stand trial in March 2025.

Now, Goin is slated to be sentenced on March 24, 2026.