Rapid City, AZ: Rapid City businessman, girlfriend found dead in Arizona

Steven C. Lester, owner of Rushmore Plaza Holiday Inn, killed himself and his girlfriend in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Wednesday night, police said.
Lester, 60, and his girlfriend, Vanessa Klein, 24, were both found dead outside the front door of Lester's Scottsdale home with gunshot wounds.
A member of the Lester family confirmed Lester's identity Friday night.
Lester was separated from his wife, who lives in Rapid City, Sgt. Mark Clark of the Scottsdale Police Department said.
Police say the killings were apparently a domestic violence incident that ended in murder and suicide.
"It appears that Mr. Lester, sometime on the evening of the 17th, met with ... a girlfriend he's had a continuous relationship with over the last few years," Clark said. "It appears as though there was some kind of confrontation at the front door that involved him shooting her multiple times, and then he turned the gun on himself."
Clark said police recovered one handgun at the scene, which belonged to Lester. Klein had "multiple" gunshot wounds, and Lester appeared to have "shot himself in the head," Clark said.
Lester and his sons also owned the Holiday Inn Sioux Falls City Centre, a 299-room convention center property. They bought it in 2009 from John Q. Hammons, from whom they bought the Rushmore Plaza Holiday Inn in 2004.
Local hospitality industry officials said Lester had not been actively involved in representing the Rapid City Holiday Inn. Holiday Inn operations manager Michelle Lamphere had represented Lester at meetings of the hotel Business Improvement District board. A receptionist at the Rushmore Plaza Holiday Inn said Lamphere was unavailable Friday.
The incident seems to have happened about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, when a neighbor called Scottsdale police to report gunshots. At the time, police were unable to locate the shots.
The bodies were found Thursday morning by a visitor to the home, which Lester owned. Clark said Klein maintained a separate residence in Scottsdale.
The home where the bodies were found is at 8097 E. Del Trigo. According to the Arizona Republic, the home was registered to Steven and Pamela Lester with a Rapid City mailing address.
The Arizona Republic reports that the home is in an upper-middle-class neighborhood made up of older homes from the 1980s.
According to real estate website Trulia.com, the home is a 1,748-square-foot condominium, built in 1984, and has three bathrooms and an unknown number of bedrooms.
In Rapid City, Lester was listed with Pamela Lester as the owner of the 4,260-square-foot home at 5905 Magic Canyon Road.
Lester grew up in Chamberlain, where his family was in the hotel business. The Lester family moved to Rapid City in 1967.
Clark said the incident remains under investigation but that there are no other suspects.
Contact David Montgomery at 394-8329 or david.montgomery@rapidcityjournal.com
Contact Barbara Soderlin at 394-8417 or barbara.soderlin@rapidcityjournal.com