KTLA

Shooting, standoff at Nevada’s Moonlite Bunny Ranch brothel leads to woman’s arrest

Savannah Henderson, 28, was arrested and booked into the Lyon County Jail on Feb. 21, 2023. (Lyon County Sheriff's Office)

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A female worker at Moonlite Bunny Ranch, a well-known legal brothel near Carson City in northern Nevada, was taken into custody Tuesday morning after a shooting and armed standoff with law enforcement officials.

A little after 9:30 p.m. on Monday night, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office received a call about gunshots fired amid a dispute between two workers at the ranch, according to the department. Responding officers heard “several more gunshots” and determined one employee had fired a gun and then retreated into a room in the building.


According to a statement from Sheriff Brad Pope, the business was evacuated. A SWAT team, as well as multiple other neighboring law enforcement agencies, responded to the barricade scene.

The woman, identified as 28-year-old Savannah Henderson, AKA Tiara Tae, of Dayton, Nevada, surrendered around 12:33 a.m., Sheriff Pope said. No one was injured.

The 28-year-old suspect, Savannah Henderson, was arrested and booked into the Lyon County Jail. (Lyon County Sheriff’s Office)

Henderson is facing four felony counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, one felony count of possession of controlled substance, one gross misdemeanor count of discharging a firearm where others may be endangered and one misdemeanor count of obstructing/resisting a peace officer.

Henderson’s bail is set at $86,140, according to Sheriff Pope.

The Moonlite Bunny Ranch is located in Mound House, Nevada, about six miles east of Carson City. The business, which opened in 1955, was previously owned by Dennis Hof, who was featured alongside the brothel in the HBO series “Cathouse: The Series” which aired in 2005 and 2007.