Ex-NFL player jailed on murder, child abuse charges in Las Vegas
A former professional football player was denied bail Thursday on murder and child abuse charges in the Tuesday evening death of his girlfriend’s 5-year-old daughter.
Cierre Wood, 28, and the girl’s mother, Amy Taylor, 25, were arrested Wednesday and booked into the Clark County Detention Center, jail records show. Taylor since has posted $5,000 bail.
Wood faces charges of first-degree murder and child abuse or neglect, while Taylor faces one count of child abuse or neglect.
Wood played for the Houston Texans, New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills in the NFL, and most recently in the Canadian Football League. He played college football at the University of Notre Dame.
About 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Metropolitan Police Department was called to investigate after medical personnel at Summerlin Hospital Medical Center noticed “signs of abuse” on the girl, La’Rayah Patra Nicole Lamont Davis, according to police spokeswoman Laura Meltzer.
The girl had been taken to the hospital from an apartment complex at 9599 W. Charleston Blvd. after having gone into cardiac arrest. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Her cause and manner of death had not been determined by the Clark County coroner’s office Thursday, but in court, a prosecutor said the girl had suffered a lacerated liver.
La’Rayah’s relatives watched the brief hearing from a courtroom gallery. They included her father, Danuan Davis, and her grandmother Laticia Davis, who clutched each other’s arms as Wood stood behind a glass partition.
Both said they did not know Wood.
Danaun Davis also told reporters that he had been trying to arrange to have La’Rayah live with him in California.
“This is not right. It’s just not right,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes. “She kept telling me something was wrong. … It’s just too much.”
Wood’s attorney, Lauria Lynch-German, declined to comment after his court appearance.
“We want justice for our baby,” Laticia Davis said. “If we lose it in there, then we risk everything, risk the chance of him getting off, her mother getting off. This is not going to work. We want justice for La’Rayah. She was our world.”
La’Rayah’s death was the 40th homicide this year in Clark County, and the 28th investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department this year, according to records maintained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter. Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter. Staff writer Katelyn Newberg contributed to this report.
