Dancing on Her Grave: The Murder of a Las Vegas Showgirl

by Diana Montané, Carolina Sarassa

From the co-author of I Would Find a Girl Walking and an award-winning true-crime television reporter comes the shocking story of Debbie Flores, a Las Vegas showgirl whose dreams of a dazzling career ended in a nightmare…Vivacious Debbie Flores was a college educated Washington Redskins cheerleader when she headed for “Sin City.” It was a smart move for the aspiring showgirl who’d soon be making her star-making solo debut at the legendary Luxor. But after the morning rehearsals of December 12, 2010, no one saw Debbie alive again.A cryptic text message she left for her mother led authorities to Debbie’s charismatic boyfriend, Jason “Blu” Griffith. A fellow Vegas dancer, Blu was hiding a terrible secret. It involved a rental van, bags of cement, two plastic tubs, and a handsaw.When the details of the crime unfolded, everyone how could a girl with such passion and promise come to an end so violent and unexpected? In time, the truth would reveal a life more tumultuous than believed—and what exactly transpired on Debbie’s tragic final day would stun the nation. INCLUDES PHOTOS

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 2015

Reviews

[Christine Lucia Asha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would never have read this but for the tv movie I streamed! such a good story and it is all true.

I knew what was going to happen and I still couldn't put it down.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was terrible. I wanted to know more about this tragic case, that's why I picked it up. However, the author kept injecting herself in the story, i.e. what she was doing when this case played out.

[Bill reilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learn something new every day, and in this case, that dead bodies are frequently dumped at Lake Mead, as was possibly the case with Las Vegas dancer Debora Flores-Narvaez. The thirty-one-year-old showgirl had vanished without a trace twelve days earlier and a woman's corpse was found there.
Unfortunately, the body thought to be Debbie's was that of a brothel owner who had a long list of enemies. Another one bites the dust.
It would be two months later when the roommate of Deb's ex-boyfriend and fellow dancer, Jason Griffith, informed the police of his involvement in hiding the girl's body in a closet. Her legs had been sawed off and a rubber container then filled with cement to be a final resting place.
Griffith was a talented dancer who had attended Julliard on a scholarship and was a notorious player with a long line of lovers. Debbie was one of them. The relationship was a volatile one and the playa strangled his lover after inviting her over to watch "Dexter" on the telly; life imitating art.
The author references a YouTube video featuring the lovebirds and another with Debbie in various states of undress. The woman had several degrees and a job in finance. Her life made no sense at all. She had slashed the tires on his car and the police were called on numerous occasions to intervene in cases of domestic abuse by both parties. A couple of pregnancies are referenced in one sentence.
The trial was a pedestrian affair and the overused psychobabble with the TV quack Dr. Phil featured within annoyed me to the point of distraction. Psychics are also a part of the nonsense.
Dancing on Her Grave is not a good read.

Here is the link to the happy couple.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ir-KPnq...

[Shanya]

This book was an easy read. The story itself is riddled with domestic violence, lost dreams, heartbreak, and murder - very sad, however it seemed to focus more on the effects of the murder on all those who survived the victim. I missed the "why" and the "who".

[Tambra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book but sad. Sick people in the world.

[Jill · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book seemed more about the author than the victim. Dnf

[Simone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way longer than necessary. I almost dnf'd but pushed through just to count it for my book goals.

[Tari McNeil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. "Dancing on Her Grave" is a factually correct book that has been written about the life and death of Debbie Flores-Narvaez. Debbie was a Las Vegas Dancer that disappeared after rehearsals for a show that she was scheduled to star in, and who was also then later tragically found murdered. The authors provide specific dates and information about the subject of their book, and clearly have a respect for Debbie, and a passion for telling her story.

I lived in Las Vegas at the time of Debbie's tragic disappearance and death. Her disappearance and murder were very much front page news at the time, and television and print media actively covered this story. It was heart wrenching to watch Celeste in television interviews pleading for information about her sister. Those interviews were after Celeste came to Las Vegas to help search for her sister, and before the remains of her sister were discovered.

Since I lived in the area at the time of Debbie's disappearance and murder, and I had already seen and/or heard at least some of the television interviews, I didn't discover a lot of new information about the disappearance and murder of Debbie Flores-Narvaez. I left Las Vegas in August 2012, after I graduated from UNLV. After that, I didn't keep up as much with developments of the arrest, trial, and conviction of Jason Griffith for Debbie's murder. Jason was Debbie's ex-boyfriend. From that point in the book, is where I learned more information about what had happened with Jason's trial. Although the murder occurred in late 2010, Jason wasn't convicted until May 2014.

This book is factually correct as I remember and know it, and it is actually a very easy read considering the subject matter. This isn't a criticism of the book, it's really just my preference, but I would have liked more information about Debbie before her death at the hands of Jason Griffith. I can see the possibility of a more expansive writing of Debbie's story.