Woman charged with murder after leaving her aunt on side of road, police say

A 28-year-old woman faces a murder charge after her aunt was found dead on the side of a North Las Vegas road, according to an arrest report released Thursday.

The count against Rosamaria Moreno includes the fact that the victim was an older person, according to court records.

North Las Vegas police were initially called to an area near Water Avenue and Stocker Street on Dec. 18 and found a woman lying next to the road, police spokesman Alex Cuevas said. She “exhibited no signs of life” and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman’s body was “clean,” police said, and there were no signs of a struggle or visible injuries on her body.

According to the report, Moreno told an investigator from the Clark County coroner’s office that she had not seen Maura Nava Flores, 79, since the day before. But she had not filed a missing persons report.

The coroner’s office believed that hypothermia was a contributing factor in Flores’ death, according to the report. Moreno was being compensated for Flores’ care taking, police found.

Because of Flores’ condition when she was found, detectives believed that she had been dropped off on the side of the road and had not walked to the area.

In an interview with detectives, Moreno said Flores had wanted to leave the house, so they had driven to a shelter and Flores had gotten out of the car. Moreno was “adamant” that Flores had been alive when she’d left the vehicle, according to the report.

Police also found that Moreno had logged care taking hours after Flores went missing, the report said. Detectives eventually decided to charge Moreno with murder, and she was arrested on Feb. 24.

She later posted bail and has a preliminary hearing set for March 14, according to court records.

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.