Mom who was ‘hysterical’ while searching for toddler son is charged with his murder after boy found in dumpster in Las Vegas
The mother of a missing two-year-old boy who was ‘hysterical’ in her quest to find him has been arrested for murder after his body was found in a rubbish bin.
Diaja Smith, 23, was charged after the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department responded Thursday to a call about a report of a missing boy.
Officers arrived on the scene and immediately began searching — and at 12:58 a.m. the next day, the two-year-old’s body was recovered in a dumpster on the 1300 block of Lewis Avenue. He was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel.
Police did not reveal his name in their press release. However, a missing persons flyer obtained by VOS5 identifies the toddler as Jacoby Robinson Jr.
His mother Diaja is currently being held on open murder and other charges.
Jacoby Robinson (pictured) was found dead in a dumpster in Las Vegas
Pictured: Diaja Smith, 23, in court after being accused of murdering her child
The toddler’s father, Jacoby Robinson, 24, was also arrested in connection with his son’s murder. He faces two counts of child molestation and one count of murder KNV.
Kelvyn Barnet, who lives near where the child’s body was found, told the local station that he saw his mother Diaja searching for him before she was arrested.
The mother was acting hysterical, the onlooker said.
“I saw a lady sitting there with her two other children, very hysterical, saying, ‘Someone took my child, someone took my child,'” Barnett said. “To find out that she was the one who did this is the most shocking aspect of it all.”
He also said the mother told him her son disappeared while she was at the park “and the child was on the slide and she looked around and the child was gone.”
The victim’s cause of death has not yet been released by the Clark County Coroner’s office.
Both parents of Jacoby Jr. appeared in court on Saturday.
Pictured: Jacoby Robinson Jr., who was found dead last week
The toddler’s father, Jacoby Robinson, 24, was also arrested in connection with his son’s murder. He faces two counts of child molestation and one count of murder
In the photo: the waste containers where the child’s lifeless body was found
Prosecutors allege Robinson was present in the apartment during the horrific beating and whipping of the child. CLASS.
They also allege that Robinson remained with the child afterward, even witnessing the child vomiting, but only helping to clear the vomit from his mouth and nose before the child went back to sleep.
Prosecutors also said that while the autopsy of Robinson Jr. is ongoing, ‘very worrying injuries’ have been found, with the child’s entire body, and especially his genitals, affected by the blows with a cord.
The parents are being held without bail. Their next court appearance is June 11.
It is not clear whether either suspect has entered pleas or sought legal advice.