NV LITTLE ZION: M, 7-10, found near Mountain Springs Trail between Las Vegas & Pahrump, NV - 28 May 2021 *LIAM HUSTED*

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Las Vegas police ask for help IDing young boy found dead by hikers, ‘victim of an obvious homicide'​

Police asked anyone aware of a missing child from Las Vegas to Southern California to reach out

Las Vegas authorities are asking the public to help identify a young boy who was discovered dead by a group of hikers Friday morning.

The group was hiking the Mountain Springs Trailhead near State Route 160 somewhere between Las Vegas and Pahrump when they found the body at about 7:30 a.m., Las Vegas Police Lt. Ray Spencer told reporters.

Investigators believe the boy is possibly 10 years old and of Hispanic ethnicity. He was described as 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighing 123 pounds. Investigators said he is the "victim of an obvious homicide," possibly within the past 24 hours.

"It's paramount that we're able to identify him so we can begin the key points of this investigation," Spencer said at an afternoon news conference.

He declined to say what kind of injuries the body was found with or how the child died.

Las Vegas detectives have spoken with other law enforcement agencies in the state and Southern California to see if they have any missing persons reports that match the description of the boy, Spencer said.

Multiple detectives are working on the case, he said.

Spencer urged anyone in Las Vegas and the surrounding areas – including Southern California – to reach out to authorities if they have a child, nephew or grandchild that has gone missing.
 
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Glad they found her. I really wonder what the facts are in this case. Unusual to say the least. A female who murdered her son (if she did it of course), traveling, and somehow left him on a hiking trail, and continued traveling or running... Did she carry him to where he was found? Was he killed where he was found? Just a lot of unanswered questions.
 

“I’ll tell you what I have learned over the last 10 days is how many missing children there are nationally,” Spencer said Tuesday. “I was inundated with reports of missing children from all over the United States.”

Spencer is a Metro homicide detective, according to the RJ.
 

Neighbor describes bizarre scene of abandoned, crying boy before 7-year-old Liam Husted was found dead on hiking trail [VIDEO]​

A man who lives in the apartment building where 7-year-old Liam Husted was living before he died has come forward to describe a disturbing scene that appears to have taken place shortly before Liam’s mother Samantha Moreno Rodriguez left with the boy last month.


Law enforcement sources told the East Bay Times there had been no previous record of abuse in the home or any indication that Rodriguez planned to harm her son — appearing to defend Husted’s delayed response to his son’s disappearance.

But a neighbor at the same apartment building has said he saw a hysterically crying boy he believes was Liam, and his account suggests Liam’s parents may have abandoned him inside the building.

Ninous Tuman told ABC 30 that he saw a boy, who he believes to be Liam after seeing his photos, in the apartment complex about two weeks ago. He said that the boy was alone in the hallway and very upset.

“As I walked outside of my apartment in the hallway I saw this kid crying, little kid, and he was crying really bad,” Tuman told the news station.

Tuman also said that the boy spoke only Spanish, so it was difficult to communicate.

After failing to find the boy’s parents inside the apartment complex, Tuman said he went outside with the boy and called 911. While he was on the phone with 911, a man got out of a car and approached the boy. When the 911 dispatcher asked Tuman if the boy seemed comfortable with the man, Tuman said he wasn’t sure, though he believed the man was the boy’s father. Tuman said a woman then got out of the car and the boy seemed comfortable with her. The neighbor said he assumed she was the boy’s mother and did not question them any further — but he now has regrets.

“I am devastated man, I feel so bad,” Tuman told ABC 30.

There is no confirmation that the child and the adults Tuman encountered were Liam and his parents.
 

One neighbor suspects that Liam’s battle with Autism may have played a role in what happened.


Police offered no new details about the case Wednesday, as Rodriguez awaits extradition back to Las Vegas.

Police have so far not disclosed how the boy died or anything about a possible motive for his murder.

The family lived a complex across from the memorial.

One neighbor said Liam was being treated for autism and seemed to be a happy child. One visitor left a heartfelt message with wishes that Liam Rest in Peace.
 
The mother accused of killing her son and leaving his body near a trail in the Mountain Springs area last month will appear in court for the first time Thursday.

Court records show Rodriguez, who remains in Denver, will appear in district court at 8:30 a.m. Thursday for a “hearing on advisement.”

The law requires a person wanted in one state to go through a court process first in the state where they were arrested. The extradition process can take longer if the person in custody fights it.
 
Las Vegas community honors Liam Husted, found in Mountain Springs
On Sunday, Nick Husted came to his son's memorial but was too overwhelmed to read a statement about his son. An organizer read it for him instead.

"I still can't come to terms with the fact that I can never play, or swim, or hug and kiss my son," she read. "I love you, son, I can't wait to be with you again."

Husted wore a T-shirt with his son's picture on it, and his favorite blanket wrapped around his neck.

He described Liam as a helpful child who loved cooking and swimming. He also took a moment to thank the Las Vegas community for their love and support.

"To take him under your wing like he was your own when I wasn't able to be here with him, really means a lot to me, and I know he appreciates it just as much as I do," he said.


California woman accused of killing son not a ‘bad mom,’ father says​

A California woman who allegedly killed her 7-year-old son is not a “bad mom,” the father of the slain boy said at a vigil for the child Sunday, according to reports.

A distraught Nicholas Husted made the comment to a crowd of well wishers in Las Vegas’ Sunset Park as he thanked them for their concern for his son, Liam, who had been found dead on a mountain hiking trail outside the Nevada city on May 28.

“I don’t think she was a bad mom,” the San Jose, Calif., man said of Samantha Moreno Rodriguez, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. “She had a time of weakness, and she is going to pay for it.”


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Las Vegas community honors Liam Husted, found in Mountain Springs
On Sunday, Nick Husted came to his son's memorial but was too overwhelmed to read a statement about his son. An organizer read it for him instead.

"I still can't come to terms with the fact that I can never play, or swim, or hug and kiss my son," she read. "I love you, son, I can't wait to be with you again."

Husted wore a T-shirt with his son's picture on it, and his favorite blanket wrapped around his neck.

He described Liam as a helpful child who loved cooking and swimming. He also took a moment to thank the Las Vegas community for their love and support.

"To take him under your wing like he was your own when I wasn't able to be here with him, really means a lot to me, and I know he appreciates it just as much as I do," he said.


California woman accused of killing son not a ‘bad mom,’ father says​

A California woman who allegedly killed her 7-year-old son is not a “bad mom,” the father of the slain boy said at a vigil for the child Sunday, according to reports.

A distraught Nicholas Husted made the comment to a crowd of well wishers in Las Vegas’ Sunset Park as he thanked them for their concern for his son, Liam, who had been found dead on a mountain hiking trail outside the Nevada city on May 28.

“I don’t think she was a bad mom,” the San Jose, Calif., man said of Samantha Moreno Rodriguez, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. “She had a time of weakness, and she is going to pay for it.”


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Pretty sure a mom who kills their child is a "bad mom".
 
Pretty sure a mom who kills their child is a "bad mom".
My guess is he was not rainbows and all sugar either as a dad, probably okay moments and bad ones, and so he knows better than to throw her under the bus, even though he did not take the child, he may not want her sharing anything about how he was as a father... I go by that account where it sounds like BOTH parents may have abandoned him when the neighbor came across him crying...
 

San Jose mom charged with son’s slaying agrees to extradition from Denver to Las Vegas​

The San Jose woman accused of taking her autistic 7-year-old son then killing and leaving him in a remote area near Las Vegas has agreed to extradition to answer for a killing that shocked communities across the West and drew national notoriety.

Samantha Moreno Rodriguez, 35, will soon be transported from Denver, where she was arrested June 8, 11 days after Liam Husted was found dead along the Mountain Springs Trail 20 miles west of Las Vegas. She has been charged with one count of murder in Clark County, Nevada.

How Liam died has still not been announced by authorities in Las Vegas pending the results of toxicology tests ordered as part of the boy’s autopsy. Hikers found his naked body May 28 off a dirt roadway between sage bushes. Las Vegas police have said they are confident that Liam died at or near where he was found.
 

Liam Husted case: Troublesome last moments of 7-year-old’s life​

Naked with cuts and bruises on his small body. That is how police say a hiker found 7-year-old Liam Husted off this trail in Mountain Springs, Nevada about 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

Wearing makeup and lipstick is how police say they found Liam’s mother Samantha Moreno Rodriguez at a Colorado restaurant having breakfast with a man she met a few days before tracking her car through California, Nevada, and then Colorado.

“We know by the body, she had a difficult time moving him,” Lt. Ray Spencer said.

While Nevada authorities say they know how Liam died, the official cause of death not released yet. And that, local defense attorney Paula Canny says is troubling.


While a more detailed picture coming into focus about the days leading up to Liam’s death, Moreno continues to sit in a Denver jail awaiting extradition to Las Vegas with a big question still looming over all of this.

“Only Samantha knows why.”
 

Mother accused of killing son returned to Nevada​

The woman accused of killing her 7-year-old son and dumping his body off state Route 160 has been returned to Southern Nevada to face a murder charge.


San Jose Mother Confessed to Strangling 7-Year-Old Son: Prosecutor​

A mother from San Jose on Wednesday was denied bail by a Nevada judge who was told by a prosecutor that the woman admitted strangling her 7-year-old son.

Samantha Moreno Rodriguez, 35, made an initial court appearance by video after being arrested June 8 in Denver and transferred Monday to Nevada.

During Wednesday’s court appearance, a prosecutor said Rodriguez confessed to strangling her son and disrobing his dead body before leaving him in the desert.

“This is a pretty egregious case,” Deputy District Attorney John Giordani said. “She essentially said that she became frustrated with the child and strangled him.”

Rodriguez’s only comment during the proceeding was to confirm her identity.

Justice of the Peace Amy Chelini ordered that Rodriguez to be held without bail and represented by a public defender.

The Coroner’s office has not yet released its official ruling on cause of death.
 

7-year-old Liam Husted died from strangulation, Clark County Coroner says​

The Clark County Coroner's Office has released the cause and manner of death for 7-year-old Liam Husted, whose body was found near Mountain Springs southwest of Las Vegas.

Liam Husted of San Jose, California, died on May 28 from strangulation. The manner of death was homicide, the coroner said.

Husted's mother, Samantha Moreno Rodriguez, has confessed to strangling her son before dumping his body near Mountain Springs, according to prosecutors. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 3.
 

Mom indicted on murder charge in 7-year-old son’s death​

A woman accused of killing her 7-year-old son and dumping his body off state Route 160 between Las Vegas and Pahrump was indicted Friday.

Samantha Moreno Rodriguez, 35, faces a single count of murder in the death Liam Husted, whose body was found May 28 near the Mountain Springs Trailhead. Initially referred to as John “Little Zion” Doe, Liam went unidentified for more than a week as investigators fielded hundreds of tips. Police said the child’s body had “multiple injuries.”


Grand jury indicts mother accused of killing 7-year-old Liam Husted
Court records indicate the grand jury returned a murder charge indictment for Samantha Moreno-Rodriguez on Friday.

Her next appearance in Clark County District Court is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 4.
 

Mom accused of killing son told detectives why she removed his clothes​

A woman accused of strangling her 7-year-old son told investigators why she discarded the boy’s clothes after he died, according to grand jury transcripts made public this week.

Liam, who had autism spectrum disorder, had been running around, “not really listening to Samantha,” Metropolitan Police Department homicide Detective Robert Ochsenhirt told grand jurors. “She’s trying to usher him back to the car so they can go on their way, and he won’t do it.”

They ended up in Las Vegas on May 26 and walked up and down the Strip “so he could look at the lights,” she told the detective. She was trying to wear him out and get him to sleep that night.

At the trail the next morning, Rodriguez was exhausted, she later told detectives. Liam wouldn’t listen to her.

She shoved him. He fell and hit his head, before he started screaming “louder than she had ever heard him scream before,” Ochsenhirt said. “And she wasn’t so sure how to stop him from crying. The things she had tried in the past to calm him down weren’t working.”

Prosecutor John Giordani asked the detective how Rodriguez responded.

“She indicated kind of physically with her hands going towards her neck,” the detective said. “And then we asked her if she had put her hands on Liam, and then we asked her again if she had put her hands around his neck, and she answered yes to both questions.”

She strangled him for 10 to 15 minutes “before he stopped crying and breathing ultimately,” Ochsenhirt said.

A medical examiner noted a laceration on the boy’s head, abrasions on his face, left shoulder, right earlobe and the front of his neck.

“Samantha indicated that she had watched television crime shows,” the detective testified, “and thought that by removing his clothing it would make it more difficult to associate him with her after she left the scene.”

Rodriguez is due in court Wednesday.
 
An eye for an eye .. just my two cents.
If she couldn't handle him, she should have taken him back to his father.
She beat and strangled him for FIFTEEN MINUTES, stripped his clothes, and left him in the woods like garbage.
Her 7-year-old autistic child who couldn't communicate why he was upset or what was wrong.
She definitely deserves more than the law will give her.
 

Prosecutors ponder death penalty for mom in 7-year-old son’s death​

Prosecutors in Las Vegas plan to decide soon whether to seek the death penalty for the woman accused of strangling her 7-year-old son.

She is scheduled to return to court Aug. 20.
 

Prosecutors ponder death penalty for mom in 7-year-old son’s death​

Prosecutors in Las Vegas plan to decide soon whether to seek the death penalty for the woman accused of strangling her 7-year-old son.

She is scheduled to return to court Aug. 20.
ponder?
 

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