Mother, boyfriend arrested in death of toddler boy

By Tiffany Gibson

Published Thursday, March 11, 2010 | 3:34 p.m.

Updated Thursday, March 11, 2010 | 4:41 p.m.

A mother and her boyfriend were arrested this week in connection with the death of the woman's 3-year-old son, Metro Police announced during a news conference today.

Officers responded to a house in the 6000 block of Bing Cherry Drive shortly after midnight on Monday 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.

The location of the home is south of Charleston Boulevard in the eastern valley.

The Clark County Coroner’s Office identified the toddler as 3-year-old Leland Chris-Angel Garcia. Police said the autopsy revealed the child suffered severe bruising to the head, the majority of his abdomen and his lower body. Leland also suffered internal injuries consistent with blunt force trauma, police said.

An official cause of death is pending, the coroner’s office said.

Metro Lt. Ray Steiber said Thursday the boy’s bruises were inconsistent with an accidental injury. He said six other children also lived in the home and four had signs of abuse.

A 7-year-old boy suffered lacerations to the buttocks and was taken to a hospital for treatment, police said. A specialist examined the boy and determined he had bleeding and scabbing from belt marks, police said.

Police arrested the mother of the children, 29-year-old Elizabeth Stack, and her boyfriend, 23-year-old Jesse Parsons, in connection with the alleged abuse.

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.

He is charged with four counts of child abuse with substantial bodily harm, two counts of child abuse and one count of murder by child abuse. Stack is charged with four counts of child neglect with substantial bodily harm and one count of second-degree murder by child neglect.

Both are being held in the Clark County Detention Center without bail. They are scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning in Las Vegas Justice Court.

Clark County Child Protective Services assisted with the investigation and reported that officials had investigated Stack on two occasions within the last year. Parsons wasn't involved with those previous cases.

Steiber said this is the first child abuse-related death of the year in Metro's jurisdiction. Metro Police announced Thursday there has been a 9 percent increase in the number of child abuse cases compared to last year, totaling 250 incidents so far in 2010.

"This is just one case of many we are currently investigating within our agency,” Steiber said. “The concern I see is that we are seeing the severity of injuries of child abuse on the rise."