2-year-old Found in Dumpster in Las Vegas; Mom Charged with Homicide: Authorities
The mother of a 2-year-old boy who was found dead in a Las Vegas dumpster has been charged with murder.
A news release from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said that 23-year-old Diaja Smith was arrested after the death of her 2-year-old son. The boy’s body was found in a dumpster in Las Vegas early on June 7. The boy had been reported missing from his home in Las Vegas more than four hours before.
“The missing two-year-old was found in a trash can in the 1300 block of Lewis Avenue on June 7, 2024, at about 12:58 a.m.” Medical staff arrived and declared the baby dead at the scene, according to the police.
In the statement, the police did not give the toddler’s name. The later identification as Jacoby Robinson Jr. came from a missing persons flyer from a neighbor that was handed out by police during the search.
Records from the Clark County Detention Center show that Smith is being held there on open murder and child abuse charges.
A second suspect, Jacoby Robinson, who is thought to be the father of the child, has also been arrested in connection with the case. Robinson is being held in jail on two counts of child abuse, but KTNV and 8 News Now report that his charges will be raised to include murder based on what the prosecutor said in court.
Another neighbor, Kelvyn Barnett, who lives close to where the child was found, told WSAZ that she saw Smith “hysterically” while she was out looking for her son around 9 p.m. on June 6.
“I saw the lady sitting there with her two other kids, really hysterical, and saying ‘somebody took my kid, somebody took my kid,'” Barnett told the media. “The most shocking thing is that she is said to have done this.”
Barnett told FOX5 that Smith had told him that her son had gone missing and that she had been at the park with the child on the slide when she looked around and saw that the child was gone.
The Clark County Coroner’s Office will say how and why the person died, according to the statement as per the PEOPLE.
