Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
“Death in a Casino Stairwell” is an episode of Oxygen’s true-crime series Sin City Murders. It will delve into the murder of Donald Idiens and will air on Oxygen on Sunday, April 28, 2024, at 7 p.m. ET. “An expert poker player is found beaten to death in an Imperial Palace stairwell, leading detectives to investigate a mysterious phone call and hours of surveillance footage; hotel staff help police crack the case and track down a killer,” a synopsis of the episode reads.
Donald Idiens was a well-known real-estate developer and Gold River resident. Times Colonist reported that Idiens was also passionate about gambling and was playing cards at the Mirage Hotel casino on December 8, 1997, when he suddenly left everything that he won and walked off from the playing table. He then left about $822 in chips, and his friends reported that he hadn’t returned. The next morning, the staff found him dead at Imperial Palace, a hotel in Las Vegas. He was reportedly on a stairwell and was beaten to death.
The Village of Gold River then had a stark reaction to Donald Idiens’ death. He had been a builder and a developer for the past three decades and was well-known in the area. In 1962, Idiens graduated from Courtenay High School. He had grown up in the Comox Valley. He reportedly moved to Gold River only a year ago. Idiens used to live in Campbell River prior to that.
According to CNN, when the maids at the Imperial Palace found Donald Idiens, he was wearing nothing but socks and underwear. He was also reportedly battered and found on the 17th-storey stairwell. Police said he died from a blow to the head.
How was Donald Idiens’ killer caught?
One of the employees at Imperial Palace expressed suspicions about Greg Chao, a man whose room was very close to where Donald Idiens was found. The police investigated his room and deduced that some kind of robbery might be involved in the killing. Greg Chao was known to have several gambling debts. He was already serving probation related to an April 1997 conviction relating to extortion. He also reportedly threatened a former employer’s daughter and claimed to inflict violence if she didn’t give him the money he demanded, Las Vegas Sun reported.
CNN reported that authorities charged Greg Chao with robbery and murder with a deadly weapon. Chao allegedly went to Las Vegas to source money that would allow him to pay back the loan sharks in Canada. He then borrowed $1000 from Donald Idiens at the Mirage Hotel casino. Prosecutors argued that he then asked Idiens to come to his hotel room where he demanded money and killed him when he refused.
The court then found Greg Chao guilty of first-degree murder and robbery with a deadly weapon. Donald Idiens’ blood was found in Chao’s room at the Imperial Palace. DNA evidence also supported the allegations against him. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the court then sentenced Chao to life in prison without a chance for parole.
The Sin City Murders episode titled “Death in a Casino Stairwell” will be aired on Oxygen on Sunday, April 28, 2024, at 7 p.m. ET.
