Monday, April 6, 1998 | 11:01 a.m.
A 27-year-old woman, who allegedly drowned her son and then tried to kill herself, has been charged with the murder of her 2-year-old son early today, Metro Police said.
Just after 1 a.m., Melissa Jean Aris-Swilley banged on a neighbor's door at the Budget Suites on Boulder Highway where she had been staying for almost a week, homicide Sgt. Ken Hefner said. The neighbor notified Metro and security.
"They learned and confirmed that her son drowned in the tub of the room," Hefner said.
Officers arrived to find the boy, who would have been 3 next month, dead in the tub, Hefner said.
He said investigators believe the boy died from drowning. An autopsy was scheduled for today to determine the exact cause of death, a coroner's office spokeswoman said.
Aris-Swilley had moved from Birchrun, Mich., to Las Vegas on March 25. Less than a week ago, she checked into the Budget Suites, Hefner said.
She attempted to kill her self by taking an overdose of over-the-counter sleeping aids, he said.
The woman was despondent over the shooting of her husband in Michigan six months ago, he said. Aris-Swilley was not a suspect in that shooting, in which the husband survived, he said.
"She apparently was troubled over the shooting," he said.
Aris-Swilley was taken to University Medical Center for treatment. She was charged at the hospital with murder, Hefner said.
The boy, whose name has not been released, was dead at the scene.
archive
