Police saw ‘nothing’ at house where girl, 7, died

By Sam Skolnik (contact)

Friday, Feb. 9, 2007 | 7:08 a.m.

By Sam Skolnik Las Vegas Sun

A top Metro Police official said Thursday that the officers who responded to a domestic disturbance call last weekend at a house where a 7-year-old girl was later allegedly stabbed to death by her mother saw "absolutely nothing" that would have mandated they call Child Protective Services.

Deputy Chief Ted Moody, appearing on "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" on Las Vegas ONE (Cox cable channel 19), said that police saw nothing to support the contention that Sherri Love had thrown a metal candlestick holder at her 14-year-old son, Michael "Mikey" Corbo, and injured him.

"No bruises, no redness, no swelling," he said.

Police were first sent to Love's home at 6268 Alpine Tree Ave. on the disturbance call at 3:30 p.m., according to a police report on the incident. Corbo said the candlestick had hit his back; his stepfather, Richard Moreno, had made the call to police.

But because of "no corroborating witness, and no physical signs of injuries, no arrest was made," police said in their report.

Soon after police left, Love got into an argument with her 8-year-old son, Brian Moreno, about whether he could go home with his father, Richard Moreno. Love and her son got into a scuffle, according to a second police report.

The boy then went to sleep for a brief period, according to the report - only to wake up to find Love stabbing his little sister, Arabella Rose Moreno, to death.

Police said Love then proceeded to stab Brian in the hand and forearm before he ran to a neighbor's house.

Love later tried to kill herself, police said, by ingesting prescription medication and alcohol. She was drunk throughout most of the day, police said.

She remains in a coma in a local hospital.

Arabella apparently told police not to worry about her safety when they responded to the first incident.

Tom Morton, the director of Clark County's Family Services Department, said on "Face to Face" that during the initial police response, Arabella at one point sat in a police cruiser - first with her shoes off before she went to retrieve them - and told them that she didn't want to go to her dad's house.

"She said, 'Mommy would never hurt us,' " Morton said.

But that shouldn't have meant that Love wasn't still a danger, said the lawyer representing the surviving children, Corbo and Brian Moreno, and Love's mother, Marjorie Bull.

"They're going to listen to a 7-year-old kid with no shoes on, with a drunk mother in the house?" Las Vegas attorney Stephen Caruso said. "The irony of that is killing me. I just can't believe it.

"This woman is suicidal, she's drunk - she's a danger to her kids," Caruso said.

A call to social services could have saved Arabella. But officers have to follow specific guidelines to determine when such calls are warranted, Moody said. Those include evidence of abuse, neglect or abandonment, or if the caregiver is "unable" to provide care.

"None of these things became an issue during this call," Moody said. He added that if any of the officers had accessed the Child Protective Services database - as has been suggested they should have done - they would have found that the last call to that agency regarding the Love family was in 1999.

Morton also defended the police officers' actions. "Simply because she had an altercation with a 14-year-old that resulted in a potentially violent act doesn't necessarily mean that there was a threat of violence to the two younger kids," he said.

Said Moody: "Anybody trying to blame the officers or CPS for this is going down the wrong road."