Melanie Ochs Foster mom faces charges in death of 7-month-old Baby Boy Charles in August

The foster mother of Baby Boy Charles, who died in August after suffering head trauma medical experts believe was not accidental, faces a charge of first-degree murder by child abuse.

"Metro submitted the case today and we approved it for prosecution," Clark County Deputy District Attorney Ronald Bloxham said Thursday.

Melanie Ochs was arrested at her home Thursday afternoon and is being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail.

Defense attorney Robert Langford said he unsuccessfully sought permission to have Ochs turn herself in, but his calls to law enforcement were not returned.

Bail amounts will be argued when Ochs makes her initial court appearance. Langford said that probably won't take place before Monday.

"It's a shame that the police department acted in such an unprofessional way," Langford said, adding that he's ready to prove his client is not guilty of the charge.

"Her life is her children," Langford said of Ochs, who has an adopted son, 3, and natural daughter, 2, who have been placed with their grandparents. "She'd tell you that she loves her children. This is a person serious about taking care of her kids."

Earlier this week, the county coroner's office ruled that the death of the 7-month-old boy was a homicide.

On Aug. 2, emergency responders were called to the Ochs residence on Dune Cove Road, near Sahara Avenue and Fort Apache Road, because the baby wasn't breathing. Baby Boy Charles died in the hospital two days later.

During a taped interview with police, Ochs denied intentionally injuring the child. When asked if she could recall the baby suffering any falls or accidents, Ochs recounted the baby slipping backward in a bathtub on July 31, when she was bathing him with her two other children.

"He cried hysterically because any little bump makes him cry hysterically," Ochs told police. "I sat him up, and he still cried, and I picked him up on my lap and got soaking wet and told him: 'You're fine.' You know, suck it up like a man, or you know, whatever. And he was fine."

A report from county Family Services stated authorities were told that "another child had pushed the baby down."

Dr. Arthur Montes, a pediatric and diagnostic radiologist quoted in the arrest warrant, told police neither scenario is likely. Montes reviewed the victim's medical records from both Summerlin Hospital Medical Center, where he was initially taken, and the University Medical Center, where the baby was transferred because he required a higher level of care than Summerlin could provide.

"It is Dr. Montes' opinion that the injuries the victim sustained could not be caused by one of his siblings jumping on top of him, carrying him, dropping him, or from the victim tipping over from the sitting position," police said in the warrant. "It is also Dr. Montes' opinion that the injuries could not have been caused by Charles hitting the back of his head on the bathtub two nights prior."

An initial assessment of the baby by Summerlin emergency room physician Thomas Gowan found him to have suffered a skull fracture and swelling of the brain, with acute loss of consciousness and unresponsiveness. Gowan also found "a high likelihood of non-accidental trauma."

Ochs told police she discovered the baby's injuries when she checked on him shortly after putting him in his crib for the night. She noticed he wasn't in his normal sleeping position, and when she picked him up, the baby was limp.

"Ochs told police she held the baby in her arms and tried to give him a breath. After that, the baby vomited.

"I thought: 'This is all wrong,' " Ochs said. "This is bad."

Ochs called 911, police said, and when the operator told Ochs to tip back the baby's head and prepare to give him a breath, she found a more substantial injury.

"The back of his head felt mushy when I felt his head," Ochs is quoted as saying in the warrant. "And I said: 'Oh my gosh, he's got a huge lump on his head.' "

According to Las Vegas police Lt. Brian Evans of the special victims section, the department's abuse and neglect detail has investigated 43 child deaths so far this year. Six of those cases were found to be murder by child abuse.

This case unfolds against a backdrop of troubled times for county Family Services, which is under fire for underreporting and failing to investigate past child deaths that could have related to abuse and neglect.

Two lawsuits have been filed against Clark County, one by the nonprofit California-based National Center for Youth Law, alleging that the county places children in unsafe environments without adequate supervision, and one by the natural parents of Everlyse Cabrera, the 2 1/2-year-old girl who disappeared in June while in foster care. Everlyse has not yet been found.

In addition, since the death of Baby Boy Charles, three other children who have had contact with Family Services have died, including 15-month-old Joshua Sharp, who stopped breathing while at Child Haven on Aug. 15. Child Haven is the county's emergency shelter for abused and neglected children.

Langford said he is concerned that with that level of negative attention on child welfare, authorities might try to make an example of Ochs, who has never faced accusations of child abuse.

In addition, Langford said that as a foster and adoptive parent, Ochs has gone through a level of screening and monitoring that natural parents never have to go through.

As for the opinions of the medical experts in the warrants, Langford said it isn't unusual to get medical experts who have conflicting conclusions about the same case when findings are challenged in court.