Mother charged with murder

A 23-year-old woman was charged with second-degree murder Thursday after the drowning of her 5-year-old daughter, who was left in the bathtub unattended with the door closed, police said.

Raven Gibbons also was charged with child neglect with substantial bodily harm.

The drowning happened Tuesday. Police made an arrest Thursday.

Las Vegas police Capt. Vincent Cannito said Gibbons told police she left her daughter unattended in the bathtub for about 10 minutes.

Cannito said water was running in the bathtub, and the door was closed, as Gibbons watched television.

She was not alerted until water was visible under the bathroom door, police said.

After running a test on Gibbons' bathtub, police found it took at least 25 minutes for water to overflow.

It was impossible the girl was left alone for only 10 minutes, Las Vegas police spokeswoman Barbara Morgan said.

"The whole bathroom was soaked," she said.

Morgan said the child, D'Amber Myles, died after being taken to University Medical Center.

"With kids, they try to transfer everybody," she said. "They don't always know how long they've been down. Kids are sometimes more resilient."

Myles suffered from severe cerebral palsy and only had use of her right arm. She had the mental capacity of a 2- to 3-year-old, Morgan said.

The girl's physical limitations meant she needed constant supervision.

"She could not boost herself out by herself," Morgan said. "Her mom had her on her back haunches, and she kind of slumped forward. That's how her body shape was; she couldn't hold her head up."

Samantha Charles, a spokeswoman for Clark County Family Services, said the Metropolitan Police Department requested her agency not comment on the case.

Charles said that because of the request, she could not comment on whether Gibbons had a prior history with the agency.

Gibbons is being held in the Clark County Detention Center without bail. She is scheduled to appear before a judge on Tuesday.

Cannito said that the case was another example of parental negligence. There have been three child drownings in the past four days, he said, and four total this year.

There were six pool drownings and one bathtub drowning in 2008 in Las Vegas, Cannito said.

He added that the Fourth of July is a prime time for accidents.

"If I were a betting man, and I'm not, I would bet there will be another drowning or near-drowning this weekend," Cannito said.

The decision to press charges in a child drowning is made on a case-by-case basis, Morgan said.

In Gibbons' case, the negligence was extreme, she said.

Review-Journal writer Antonio Planas contributed to this report. Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.