KINGMAN – An alleged white supremacist “Skinhead” charged in the butcher-knife stabbing death of his mother appeared in court for an evidentiary hearing Tuesday. Judge Doug Camacho ruled that prosecutor Jaimye Ashley met her burden to show that proof is evident, and presumption is great that Travers Proulx, 43, murdered Bette Vaughn, 74 at Vaughn’s home on August 11.
Camacho granted Ashley’s motion to hold Proulx without bond pending trial because the Deputy Mohave County Attorney also proved that the Bullhead City man was on felony release in another felony case when the murder occurred.
Proulx is charged with three counts of forgery, burglary, theft and taking the identity of another in the 2018 case. Vaughn met conditions of a $9,000 cash bond to secure Proulx’s release and he was staying at her home on Jasper Avenue when the murder occurred.
During the evidentiary hearing, Bullhead City Police Detective Robin Holstrom testified that Proulx’s brother and stepfather both indicated they were awakened by Vaughn’s screams before seeing the defendant clutching a butcher knife. Holstrom said the brother also said he actually saw Proulx stab their mother.
Holstrom told the court that the brother and stepfather said Proulx threatened that he would have the Aryan Brotherhood kill them both, and their family members, if they called police. She also testified that another woman told her that Proulx admitted he killed his mother and that he did so because she was molesting his two-year-old daughter.
Proulx faces a September 16 hearing in the 2018 before Judge Rick Lambert and an October 24 pretrial conference before Judge Camacho.
