A man has been accused of killing his girlfriend’s son and hiding the body inside a freezer in Las Vegas, a situation the police discovered thanks to the boy’s sister, who brought a note to school.
Authorities initially held 35-year-old Brandon Toseland on two kidnapping charges, 8 News Now reported Tuesday, and relatives of a four-year-old boy named Mason Dominguez have identified the body in the freezer as Mason’s.
A photo showed Toseland handcuffed and staring at the floor during an appearance in court as a police officer stood nearby. He now faces a charge regarding open murder.
The little boy was discovered tucked inside a freezer in a garage at the house located on Saddle Brook Park Drive, the 8 News Now report continued:
Police said on Tuesday morning, an elementary-aged child handed a note to a Clark County School District teacher that stated her mother was being held against her will and that she did not know the location of her preschool-aged child. The teacher then passed the note to CCSD police who in turn called Metro police.
The little girl who delivered the note is the sister of the apparently murdered boy. Her mother had given her the note to take to school.
When law enforcement performed surveillance nearby on Tuesday morning, they observed Toseland and a woman leave the residence. A few minutes later, the authorities stopped their vehicle.
The woman explained she had not seen her young child since December. “Police said she also said her boyfriend, Toseland, did not allow her to go into certain areas of the home, including the garage,” the outlet noted.
In addition to suffering alleged abuse from Toseland, the woman added she believed her child was deceased, according to a press release Wednesday from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
The department said homicide detectives were called and took over the investigation.
“Police obtained a search warrant for the home and Tuesday afternoon found the remains of the child. Police believe the child had been in the freezer since early December,” the 8 News Now report stated.
Neighbors recently gathered to hold a vigil in remembrance of Dominguez:
The victim’s cause and manner of death will be reported by the Clark County Coroner’s Office, the police department’s news release said.
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