Vegas showgirl killer Yoni Barrios worked as stripper, posted vain selfies before knife rampage
The man who went on a knife rampage on the Las Vegas Strip, killing two and injuring six more, had a party boy past as a stripper before becoming homeless, The Post has learned.
Yoni Barrios was declared “indigent” by a Clark County, Nevada judge earlier this month, but his social media told a much different story, boasting of an extravagant lifestyle flashing big wads of cash and expensive jewelry.
Barrios, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, had lived in Los Angeles where he regularly posted his gym-honed physique and took pictures at glamorous night spots such as Drai’s nightclub in Las Vegas.
A former friend of Barrios’ — who did not want to be named — said the 32-year old worked as a stripper in gay bars in the past and never “held down a regular job.”
Instead, Barrios mooched off men and women who had romantic interests in him, the source said, adding they believed he was straight but led men on to get cash.
Barrios claimed he had come to Las Vegas to seek work as a chef, showing a knife to a group of girls posing for pictures dressed as showgirls on the famed Strip.
When they became uneasy at his presence with the knife he snapped and stabbed showgirl Maris Digiovanni in the heart and bystander Brent Hallet with a kitchen knife near the Wynn hotel.
Barrios also stabbed six others, including showgirls Anna Westby and Victoria Cayetano.
Eight months before the violent daytime attack, however, Barrios seemed to be living high on the hog, posting pictures of diamond rings, expensive watches and many shirtless photos of him working out, flexing his muscles.
On his profile he wrote: “Life teaches us to make good use of the time … while time teaches us the value of life … so be a good person but don’t waist (sic) time to prove it.”
Chillingly, Barrios’ last Facebook post — made just one day before the horrific broad-daylight knife attack — was one hailing the notorious biker gang Mongrel Mob, alleged to be involved in violent killings in New Zealand.
The braggadocious posts seem a far cry from an interview Barrios conducted with a Los Angeles Spanish station, Telemundo 52, just two days before the stabbing-spree in Las Vegas.
In the interview, Barrios told the camera crew he was homeless and looking for a better life. He said he had lost all of his belongings and was asking for help.
He also said he received a prescription from a pharmacy in Hollywood that he believed had affected his brain.
When Barrios arrived in Las Vegas, he walked into the Wynn looking for a job, according to a police report obtained by The Post.
He also asked a janitor if he could contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for him so he could go back to Guatemala.
Barrios told cops he spoke to a security guard and told him he wanted to sell his knives so he could get some money to go back to his country.
The guard told him to “jump in front of a train,” according to the police report.
Enraged, he then approched the showgirls, later telling police they laughed and made fun of his clothing.
“Barrios said he became angry and stabbed one of the women [Digiovanni] in the chest after which he began stabbing the other women in the group as they ran away,” the police report said.
“Barrios started running and looking for groups of people so he could ‘let the anger out.'”
Showgirl Anna Westby told The Post about the horrifying moment when she saw Barrios fatally stab her friend Maris in the heart right before she was stabbed in the back.
As he ran and continued southbound on the Strip, Barrios stabbed Brent Hallet in the back and killed him. Barrios would stab four more people before Las Vegas Metropolitan Police arrested him.
Wynn officials refute the detail in the police report concerning Barrios’ interaction with their security guard.
Hotel officials told The Post: “After being interviewed by both Las Vegas Metro and our own internal investigators, we believe our officer responded responsibly to the assailant, given the limited information available to him and an interaction lasting less than 30 seconds.”
One of his last posts on Instagram shows Barrios dressed in a sharp grey suit and posing in front of Drai’s Nightclub in Las Vegas. There are videos of him ordering shots and drinking on the dance floor.
Barrios has been charged with two counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder.
Since he was found to be indigent, Barrios was assigned a Public Defender. He remains in Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas on a no bail hold.
He is scheduled to appear back in court on Jan. 12, 2023.
