July hearing set for mother charged in toddler’s death

By Dave Toplikar

Wednesday, June 16, 2010 | 3:17 p.m.

A court hearing will be held next month for a Las Vegas woman charged in connection with the March death of her 3-year-old son.

Elizabeth Stack, 28, will have a preliminary hearing at 1:30 p.m. July 7 before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Karen Bennett-Haron on murder and abuse charges in connection with the death of her son, Leland Chris-Angel Garcia.

Stack, who is in the Clark County Detention Center on $100,000 bail, has been charged with second-degree murder and five counts of child abuse with substantial bodily harm.

Police were called shortly after midnight on March 8 to a home in the 6000 block of Bing Cherry Drive to investigate a report that a 3-year-old boy wasn't breathing.

The boy was taken to Sunrise Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy report found the boy had suffered severe bruising to the head, the majority of his abdomen and his lower body, according to Metro Police. The boy also suffered internal injuries consistent with blunt force trauma, police said.

Police have said the boy's bruises were inconsistent with an accidental injury. They said six other children also lived in the home and four of them had signs of abuse.

Police also arrested Stack's boyfriend, Jesse Parsons, 24, in connection with the abuse. Parsons is in the Clark County Detention Center, charged with three counts of child abuse with substantial bodily harm, two counts of child abuse and one count of murder with a deadly weapon.

Investigators allege Parsons would frequently discipline Leland by striking him with a metal object or wooden paddle. He would also strike the other siblings, but the attacks were usually less violent, authorities said.

A police report said Parsons would often take Leland to the garage to beat him because the other children “babied” him. Stack told officers that Parsons said the toddler needed to “toughen up,” the report said.

Stack witnessed Parsons hit the children on several occasions, police said. She told officers she knew Parsons hit the children, but she never saw bruises on them, the report said. She said she told Parsons to stop spanking them, but he didn’t.

Police said Parsons told officers Stack asked him to spank the children when they misbehaved. He said he never spanked the girls and only used his hand on the boys.

Authorities recovered a piece of wood and a bent metal spatula from Stack’s garage. One of the children told officers Parsons used both items during spankings, the report said. Parsons then told officers he sometimes used a paddle or belt to discipline the boys.