Court appearance delayed for suspect in daughter’s death

A court hearing for a woman accused of killing her 6-year-old daughter was delayed Wednesday when the defendant refused to leave her jail cell.

Danielle Slaughter, 27, accused of fatally stabbing her daughter, Kyla Franks, was being held in isolation at the Clark County Detention Center. She was scheduled to appear in Las Vegas Justice Court on Wednesday morning but apparently refused to leave her bunk.

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure was incredulous that corrections officers didn't bring Slaughter to her scheduled arraignment.

"You were unable to transport her?" the judge asked a corrections officer several times. "I'd like to know why she wasn't in court today."

The officer, watching from a video monitor at the jail, told Bonaventure they would need a court order to move the murder suspect.

Public defender Andrea Luem told Bonavenutre that Slaughter was on suicide watch and might not understand the charges against her.

Bonaventure reluctantly agreed to delay the case until Friday and ordered the officers to bring Slaughter to court next time.

"I have concerns with delaying a case with such a serious charge," he said.

Outside the courtroom, Slaughter's emotional family declined to comment.

Las Vegas police said Slaughter was possibly delusional Sunday afternoon when she stabbed her daughter to death with a pair of scissors.

According to a police report, Slaughter confessed to killing Kyla after hearing her daughter speak in an "evil" voice. She told detectives she had felt a dark presence in her home for several days.

Slaughter also told police she recently had begun taking the weight-loss supplement Hydroxycut, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has linked to liver damage and other health risks.

She told police she had been having trouble sleeping since she started taking the drug about four days before the killing. She said she slept just one hour Saturday night.

Homicide Lt. Ray Steiber said it was not clear to police that the product was to blame for Slaughter's mental state.

"We don't know what caused her actions," Steiber said.

About 6 p.m., shortly after the killing, Slaughter was found running naked on Vegas Drive near Jones Boulevard, about two miles from her home. She was screaming, and her hands were covered in blood, although she was uninjured.

"The blood was from the Lamb of God," Slaughter told the officers who found her.

Police weren't able to connect Slaughter to her daughter's death for more than two hours, when Slaughter's live-in boyfriend came home and found the girl's body.

Ashton Lyken, who owns the home at 1637 Palmae Way, near Vegas Drive and Tenaya Way, told dispatchers the girl had stab wounds on her neck. She already was dead by the time he called 911.

Police later arrested Slaughter at Valley Hospital and Medical Center, where she had been taken after being found wandering on the street.

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.