Case involving child abuse murder of 18-month-old moves to district court

By Dave Toplikar

Wednesday, May 4, 2011 | 4:58 p.m.

Clyde Biggs told investigators he tried throwing cold water on 18-month-old Larry Boyd. Biggs said he tried putting Larry in a cold bath. Biggs said he even tried CPR on the limp, unresponsive baby.

But, asked why he didn't call 911, Biggs "said he didn't think about it," a Metro Police child abuse and neglect investigator testified Wednesday at Biggs' preliminary hearing on child abuse murder charges in Las Vegas Justice Court.

After today's testimony, Justice of the Peace Joseph Sciscento decided the state had provided evidence to support the charges that Biggs caused the beating death of the toddler, the son of his girlfriend.

Biggs, who will be arraigned at 9 a.m. May 11 in district court, is being held in Clark County Detention Center without bail.

Biggs, 30, has been charged with murder and child abuse with substantial bodily harm in the boy's death. He has also been charged with three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, for methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana.

The boy's mother, Lolita Marshall, 31, was also charged in the case and has entered a plea agreement with the Clark County District Attorney's office. Marshall has taken an Alford plea of guilty to the charge of attempted child abuse and neglect with substantial bodily harm.

Marshall has been released from custody on her own recognizance and must report back to district court for sentencing at 8:30 a.m. May 12 before Clark County District Judge James Bixler.

The boy’s five siblings were removed from the home and are in the custody of Clark County Child Protective Services.

Police responded at 1 p.m. Nov. 1, 2010, to the home in the 4000 block of Broadriver Drive in northwest Las Vegas after getting a call from the boy's mother that her son was unconscious and unresponsive. The toddler was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The Clark County Coroner’s Office determined the boy died as a result of blunt force trauma.

Wednesday's court proceeding was the third afternoon of testimony in the case.

Cheryl Kegley, an abuse neglect specialist for Metro Police, testified for about 90 minutes about an audio interview she did with Biggs.

She said Biggs also cooperated in making a videotaped re-enactment of the events of the day at the home, using a doll to help show what he did with the boy as he walked around the home.

Kegley said Biggs told her that he had been feeding the boy earlier and had placed him on the sofa with the other five children while he went upstairs briefly.

She said when Biggs returned, he saw one of the children was sitting partly on the toddler's head. He said he picked up Larry and had four of the other children follow him upstairs to begin cleaning one of the rooms.

Biggs told Kegley that he placed the boy on the bed in the room and had the other children start cleaning up one of the other rooms. Biggs said he went downstairs to the kitchen to have the oldest boy clean spaghetti off a wall in the kitchen.

He said he then went back upstairs and saw the other children standing around Larry, holding broken clothes hangers, and that Larry was crying. He said he had Larry lay down on the bed and he went to sleep.

Biggs told the investigator he then took the other children into Larry's room to begin cleaning it. He said when he returned to get Larry, the boy seemed to be asleep. But when he picked up Larry, his head flopped backwards.

Biggs told the investigator he took the boy into the bathroom and tried to revive him by throwing water on his face from the sink. When that didn't seem to work, he told the investigator he ran some cool bath water and put the boy in that. But he said he couldn't revive the boy and the boy defecated in the bathtub.

Kegley said Biggs told her he then wrapped the boy in a towel and took him into the master bedroom, where he tried to do CPR on him. But the boy vomited and a liquid came out of his nose.

Biggs then told her that he then ran downstairs to the garage to retrieve his cell phone and called the boy's mother, who was out shopping with two other women. Biggs then told the investigator that he had trouble making a connection on the phone, but eventually got the boy's mother to come to the house.

The investigator said when Biggs was asked why he didn't call 911, he said he didn't think of it.

The investigator also said she noticed a large handmark on the boy's face and several straight marks on his abdomen and multiple bruises that were purple and yellow when she looked at the boy's body.

The boy's 10-year-old and 4-year-old siblings told police that Biggs struck Boyd with a belt multiple times before he became unresponsive, according to the warrant for his arrest.

Marshall's 10-year-old son told police he heard Biggs strike his baby brother with a belt at least twice, then he heard his brother's cries being muffled, according to the arrest report.