Mother, boyfriend arrested in alleged child abuse

Thursday, July 31, 2003 | 9:51 a.m.

Metro Police arrested a mother and charged her boyfriend with the murder of her 3-year-old son Wednesday in what one investigator described as one of the worst cases of child abuse seen in Clark County.

The child, Stephen Chambers, died at Sunrise Hospital on July 24.

Darius Rucker, 21, described as the boyfriend of the mother, Essence Caldwell, 18, called 911, saying the child had stopped breathing early in the morning, Metro Police spokeswoman Carla Alston said.

Rucker and Caldwell moved to Las Vegas from Memphis, Tenn., about four months ago, police said.

They were living at the Emerald Suites in the 3800 block of Graphic Center Drive near Tropicana Avenue, Alston said.

Rucker is being held on a charge of murder by child abuse and four charges of child abuse with substantial bodily harm.

In Nevada the charge of murder by child abuse is a first-degree felony.

Caldwell is being held on two charges of child neglect with substantial bodily harm.

"One of the investigators said that this is probably one of the worst child abuse cases they've ever seen," Alston said.

Metro Police are still investigating the child's murder, Alston said.

Nevada ranks among the highest in the nation in the number of reported cases of child abuse and neglect per 1,000 children, according to the Nevada Registry for Child Abuse and Neglect.

In 2000 in Clark County alone, Child Protective Services conducted 7,850 abuse and neglect investigations.

In the first three months of 2001, there were 2,328 investigations.

The 2001 Nevada Kids Count Data Book reported 13,384 suspected child abuse and neglect cases in the state in 1999, of which 3,983 were substantiated.

Fifty-nine percent of the reports occurred in Clark County.