Police visited home before

Jen Lawson

Thursday, Oct. 3, 2002 | 11:15 a.m.

Henderson Police and a social service agency had been to the home where a 1-year-old child was found dead Tuesday night but investigators said there wasn't enough evidence for them to step in on previous visits.

The child was found dead after being left in a room alone for two days, police said. Her twin brother was vomiting and taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center. Three other children, all under the age of 4, were taken into county custody.

The parents, Sophia Mendoza, 20, and Demone Tisdale, 21, were arraigned this morning in Henderson Justice Court on one count each of murder and five counts each of child abuse and neglect.

Henderson Police spokesman Shane Lewis said that officers were called four times in the past year and a half. Two of the calls were "domestic-related," he said, and the rest were minor incidents. He said officers never found any signs of abuse or neglect.

"In past dealings, there hasn't been anything that would set alarms off," Lewis said.

Investigators from the county Department of Family Services had been called to the home in December after a domestic violence incident between the parents. Tisdale later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in the case.

Family Services officials said there was no information to act on after the Mendoza said she was leaving for Texas with the children. An investigator found the house apparently vacated and was unable to find anyone at the home on three follow up visits, county Family Services Director Susan Klein-Rothschild said.

Police were called to the Wyoming Avenue house Tuesday night after Tisdale's mother went to the house and found the 1-year-old girl dead and her twin brother gravely ill. Tisdale or Mendoza called her asking for help, police said. She then called police.

It was the second time she called the police. Officers say she called earlier in January asking police to check on her grandchildren because they were home alone, according to police records.

However, police saw no outward signs of neglect, and the kids were safe, Lewis said.

Police did discovered that Tisdale, who showed up a the home, had a warrant for his arrest so they took him into custody.

"They checked on the kids and there was no cause for further action," Lewis said. "The kids were OK and there was food in the house. Unfortunately, it's amazing how fast things can deteriorate."

Lewis doesn't know why the 1-year-old twins were seriously ill and the 5-month-old wasn't.

"The sad part is that with a small child like that, today it could be fine and within a week, the child could be dead," he said.

An autopsy was performed yesterday, but the findings won't be available for two to four weeks, Clark County Coroner Ron Flud said this morning.

The couple's other children, ages 3, 2 and five months, showed signs of neglect, police said. They were treated at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and released into county custody.

The 1-year-old was in fair condition at Sunrise this morning, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Mendoza and Tisdale appeared in Henderson Justice court this morning in front of Judge Rodney Burr. The couple, who have separate attorneys, are each charged with one count of murder and five counts of child neglect.

There was no bail set in the case. Their next court date is scheduled for Oct. 15.

Mendoza's attorney, Philip Kohn, said he has not read the police report and he hasn't seen autopsy results.

"She may well be a victim herself," he said. " She was a young woman who needed help and didn't get it. Who is responsible? I don't know."

Tisdale pleaded guilty to a 2001 misdemeanor charge of battery-domestic violence. The criminal complaint charged that he pulled Mendoza's hair and dragged her across the floor.

Tisdale's attorney, Drew Christiensen, said he also knows little about the case and plans to investigate further the couple's home life.

"It's hard to suggest that it's pre-meditated," he said. "If the allegations are correct, it's probably more neglect than a pre-meditated killing."

Drug paraphernalia was found in Mendoza and Tisdale's home Tuesday night, Lewis said, and that could have played a role in the incident.

Tisdale's adult arrest record dates back to 1998.

Clark County District Court records show Tisdale pleaded guilty in June 1998 to robbing a United Coin employee of $2,500 six months earlier.

Tisdale was placed on five years probation, but in February -- five days after he pleaded guilty in justice court to assaulting Mendoza -- he admitted to District Judge Lee Gates that he had violated that probation by testing positive for drugs and not reporting to his probation officer.

Gates ordered Tisdale to serve six months in jail and gave him a dishonorable discharge from probation after he served that term.

It is unclear from court records if Gates was aware of Tisdale's domestic violence arrest.

Sun reporters

Erica Johnson, Kim Smith and Timothy Pratt contributed to this story.