Children, father found in car in desert were missing for a day, police say

A man and his two young children were all unresponsive and drifting in and out of consciousness inside an SUV in a desert area of Henderson as temperatures outside reached 105 degrees Monday, police said.

Evidence in the vehicle showed that Brian Laugeson, 59, had possibly been using drugs in his Ford Flex while the two children, ages 3 and 4, were “naked and visibly suffering from heat-related illness,” a Henderson Police Department arrest report said.

Laugeson and the two children were hospitalized in critical condition on Monday, police said. Laugeson was taken to Henderson Hospital while the children were taken to St. Rose Dominican hospital, Siena Campus, the arrest report said.

The police response began to unfold when a friend of Laugeson’s told police at about 9:45 a.m. Monday that Laugeson and the two children hadn’t been seen or heard from since 9 a.m. Sunday.

According to the arrest report, Laugeson and his wife, from whom he is separated, agreed that Laugeson would have the kids for the weekend at his apartment.

Laugeson and the kids had left his apartment to go to an LDS church in Henderson and were wearing church attire, the report stated, but they never made it, it was later discovered.

When the children’s mother, who had unsuccessfully tried to contact Laugeson on Sunday evening, had still not heard from him on Monday morning, Henderson police were called.

Police were able to ping Laugeson’s cellphone to find his location. Police then went to Cadiz Avenue and Parawan Street in Henderson, where a neighborhood gives way to a desert area and found Laugeson’s SUV at about 12:10 p.m.

Laugeson and the children “were unresponsive and going in and out of consciousness” and the children were “completely naked in the backseat of Brian’s vehicle,” the report stated.

The windows were “cracked, not rolled down entirely” and there were human feces in the backseat as well as “random articles of children’s clothing.”

Laugeson faces two counts of child abuse or neglect with substantial bodily harm.

Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com.