Las Vegas woman arrested after 2-year-old’s death had been investigated by CPS at least 4 times

A Las Vegas woman arrested in connection with the death of her 2-year-old daughter last month had been investigated by Child Protective Services at least four times prior, an arrest report obtained Monday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal shows.

The mother, Diana Eldridge, 23, called police to her south valley apartment early Oct. 18 after she found the little girl, Jasmine Sherfield, unresponsive and “cold to the touch,” the report reads. The mother did not attempt CPR, and when first responders arrived about 7 a.m., the daughter was already dead.

The report noted rigor mortis, or stiffening of the joints and muscles — a sign of decomposition — had begun to set in, suggesting that the girl had been dead for some time before police were called. Eldridge told police the last time she saw her daughter was the night prior, when the toddler was asleep.

As of Monday, the county coroner’s office had not determined the little girl’s cause of death. But the arrest report noted that at the time of the toddler’s death, she had diaper rash so severe she had developed scar tissue; a possible urinary tract infection so severe it may have caused sepsis; and a lice infestation so bad “the insects were jumping from her body” during her initial examination, according to a medical examiner.

Eldridge’s two other children were home when police responded to her 5400 S. Maryland Parkway apartment that morning — one 3-year-old and one 18-month-old, according to the report.

Arriving officers noted Eldridge’s apartment was “disheveled and filthy,” adding that a pungent smell of “feces and urine” filled the space, according to the report.

Investigators also described trash strewn about the living room, dirty dishes scattered throughout the kitchen, dirty clothes on the ground and stained bedding on the children’s mattresses. There was also damage to drywall in one room and two walls that appeared to be “stained with blood.”

The report noted the children’s bedroom door lock had been intentionally reversed, so it locked from the outside, which parents sometimes do to “lock the children inside the bedroom in makeshift confinement.”

Eldridge was arrested Nov. 2 after police spoke with her, her girlfriend and her neighbor, among others. She was the children’s sole provider as her boyfriend — the children’s father — was in prison, and Eldridge’s current girlfriend visited sparingly.

The arrest report also noted Eldridge, who is being held at the Clark County Detention Center on one count of murder and two counts of child abuse with substantial bodily harm, was unemployed and “has no other responsibilities.”

At least one previous Child Protective Services investigation into Eldridge had concerned “environmental neglect,” or the unkempt state of her apartment.

Two other CPS investigations stemmed from inadequate supervision — once because Eldridge attempted suicide while her children were in her sole care, and another because one of her children was found wandering Eldridge’s apartment complex unsupervised. It was unclear Monday what consequences, if any, came from those investigations.

Eldridge’s two other children were taken into protective custody. She is due in court for a preliminary hearing Jan. 6.

Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @rachelacrosby on Twitter.