Third person arrested after death of Las Vegas 2-year-old

A third person was arrested after children told police their 2-year-old brother, who later died, was thrown to the floor by his mother’s boyfriend.

Josephine Tienda, 31, stands accused of child abuse resulting in substantial harm and making false statements to police, booking records show.

She was booked Thursday into the Clark County Detention Center but since has been released. Police did not provide information about how she was related to the child who died, Nicolas Rodriguez-Tienda of Las Vegas.

Two other people, Emanuel Najera Flores and Margarita Najera, also have been arrested in the case.

Witness statements from Nicolas’ 4- and 5-year-old siblings led to Flores’ arrest in connection with the death, a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report shows.

On July 26, Nicolas was taken to University Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, and Flores, 29, was arrested on suspicion of child abuse resulting in substantial injury and making false statements to police.

Nicolas was pronounced dead on July 28, and Flores, the boyfriend of Nicolas’ mother, was booked on suspicion of murder. He is being held at the Clark County Detention Center.

Flores told police that his mother, Margarita Najera, had been watching the boy when he fell off a trampoline at a home on the 4200 block of Walnut Family Court, the arrest report said.

Najera told police she called Flores, who took Nicolas to North Vista Hospital. Because of the extent of the injuries, the boy was taken to University Medical Center, where doctors told police that Najera’s explanation did not align with the boy’s injuries, the report states.

Najera told investigators she was alone babysitting Nicolas and his two siblings, and Flores was only present after she called him to drive them to the hospital.

An investigator interviewed Nicolas’ siblings, who told police that Flores, not Najera, was watching them. The children said Flores threw the boy against the floor because he was touching the wall and sticking his tongue out, the report states.

Nicolas’ mother told police that she had left the boy with Flores, and that Flores and Najera had fabricated the story of how her son was hurt. Police records show that the baby had a brain bleed, bruises on his head and neck, and an “array” of other blunt force injuries.

Booking logs show that Najera was arrested July 28 on charges of child abuse or neglect and making false statements to police. By Tuesday, she had been released from the county jail.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.