Father charged with murder in 1-year-old daughter’s death

A 20-year-old man on parole for child abuse faces an unrelated murder charge after his 1-year-old daughter died from injuries suffered in his custody, according to a North Las Vegas police report released Thursday.

Police initially arrested Kevin Ray Taylor on June 4 on charges of child abuse and neglect with substantial bodily harm. The charge was changed to include murder after daughter Kaitlynn died Tuesday.

She had been hospitalized in critical condition after going into cardiac arrest. She had several broken bones and cerebral bleeding, according to the report.

Police said a records search showed Taylor was on parole for child abuse. The specifics of that case were not available late Thursday.

Christine Skorupski, a spokeswoman for the Clark County Department of Family Services, said her agency has records of Taylor as an alleged child victim and a perpetrator of child abuse, but she could not provide the details of his history.

But Skorupski said that previous allegations of abuse against Taylor involved a child in an unrelated household, not Kaitlynn.

Family Services had not received reports involving Taylor's biological children before the latest incident, Skorupski said, and the agency was unaware that there were children in his care.

"When we intervene in a family, our focus is the safety of the child and working with the family to address their needs. In the prior case, we addressed the issues necessary to ensure the safety of that child," Skorupski said. "Once Taylor no longer played a role in that family, we didn't follow him on to monitor what he does with his life. We're not a policing agency like that."

According to the report, officers were dispatched to a residence near Lake Mead Boulevard and Eastern Avenue because a baby was not breathing.

Police interviewed Taylor while Kaitlynn was hospitalized. Taylor told police he was hitting his daughter lightly with a cotton pillow while she was on a bed. When her body went limp, he gently shook her and poured water on her, but she didn't respond.

When police told Taylor that the toddler's injuries were not consistent with being hit with a cotton pillow, he told them he sometimes played rough with her because "he does not want his children to grow up and be taken advantage of," the report said.

The report said a detective asked Taylor to demonstrate on a doll how he played with his daughter.

Taylor told police he sometimes would grab her by the legs and arms and swing her like a "merry go round," the report said.

Taylor also told police he pushes his daughter's head back forcibly while on the bed, causing her head to snap back. When asked by police whether he ever threw his daughter against a wall, Taylor said there were pillows against the wall.

Taylor is being held without bail at the North Las Vegas jail.

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.