A babysitter has been charged with fatally stabbing a 3-year-old girl in Las Vegas while her father was at work.
On Wednesday, March 26 at approximately 3:36 a.m. local time, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police (LVMPD) “responded to a stabbing incident in the 4200 block of Channel 10 Drive,” police stated in a release.
“Arriving officers located a female juvenile suffering from apparent stab wounds inside of an apartment. Officers provided life-saving measures until medical personnel arrived. The juvenile was transported to a local hospital where she was later pronounced deceased,” the statement added.
Police identified the suspect as Marketta Phillips, 41, and said that she had been “located near the scene and taken into custody.”
The victim was identified as a 3-year-old child by LVMPD lieutenant Robert Price, per a press conference clip shared by local ABC-affiliated station KTNV’s Channel 13.
A Las Vegas Metropolitan Police car.
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“Through the course of investigation homicide detectives learned Phillips was babysitting the victim while the father was at work,” the police release continued. “At some point, Phillips stabbed the victim and then fled the area when the father arrived from work.”
The suspect was booked into the Clark County Detention Center for Open Murder with a Deadly Weapon, police said. She had her first court appearance on Thursday, March 27, KTNV noted.
Price previously told reporters in a news conference, “There’s no threat to the public. This is an isolated incident; it’s just a very tragic and unfortunate incident,” per a clip shared by KTNV’s Channel 13.
A Las Vegas Metropolitan Police car.
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Fox-affiliated station KVVU noted that the victim’s father had found the suspect “covered in blood surrounded by multiple knives on the kitchen floor” when he returned home from work, citing an arrest report.
The father allegedly had an on-and-off relationship with Phillips, and she told police she had been living at the apartment for the past year, the report noted, according to the station.
Police discovered three sheets of paper at the scene with notes written with red marker, which read, “See what happens when you [mess] with people’s lives,” and “Now we both have nothing,” KVVU reported.
