Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
■ Police said the parents of a boy who died with multiple injuries told them he tried to drown himself.
Isaiah Gritz’s parents told Las Vegas police the 8-yearold boy had tried to drown himself, but paramedics rushing him to a hospital found a head wound so big that they initially “believed it to be a gunshot wound,” according to an arrest report.
The boy died at University Medical Center on March 20 after his father called police about 2 a.m. to report his son had tried to kill himself at the family’s home on the 2000 block of North Torrey Pines Drive, near West Lake Mead Boulevard, the Metropolitan Police Department said. Investigators would later find injuries covering Isaiah’s body, according to arrest reports for his parents.
The boy’s father, Leon Gritz, 27, and mother, Christina Gritz, 28, were arrested March 20 and have been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse or neglect resulting in substantial bodily or mental harm, court records show.
Isaiah’s grandmother, Rachel Gritz, said during a phone interview Wednesday that Isaiah’s parents told her they were still living in Sacramento, California, where she said multiple Child Protective Services reports have been filed against them.
She now believes the two fled Sacramento because of some of the reports, which she said were made by neighbors alleging domestic violence. Rachel Gritz also reported her son and his wife to child services after witnessing the couple fight, but she never saw signs of physical abuse toward Isaiah
or his two younger siblings.
Rachel Gritz said she’s “extremely angry” at her son, who she believes helped abuse Isaiah.
“It’s unfathomable, because I just don’t understand,” Rachel Gritz said. “How could you do something so heinous to an innocent little being? It just makes me sick.”
It remained unclear Wednesday if Clark County had received any abuse allegations regarding Leon and Christina Gritz. Sacramento County declined to confirm if any abuse allegations were made against the couple.
Numerous scars, injuries
As paramedics drove Isaiah to the hospital, they removed a do-rag and “large piece of gauze” to expose the head wound, the reports said. Investigators determined Isaiah had suffered a “large laceration” to the back of his head that exposed his skull.
The boy had “numerous scars and injuries at various stages of healing” covering his body, according to the reports. He also was covered in bruises, and bite marks were found on his forearms and ankle.
The boy’s cause and manner of death had not been released by the Clark County coroner’s office as of Wednesday.
According to the arrest reports, Leon Gritz told 911 operators that Isaiah “was taking a bath and had put his face under the water, attempting to kill himself.”
Christina Gritz later told police she saw her son “slam his head against the side of the bathtub multiple times” before trying to drown himself.
She said Isaiah had “suicidal tendencies” and had been seeing a therapist but had refused to talk to the therapist over the phone during the COVID-19 pandemic, the reports said. She said the injuries found by first responders were self-inflicted.
Leon Gritz told police he found Isaiah in the bathtub, with his face underwater, after his wife called him home because their son “was hitting himself and refusing to listen to her.”
He told police that his wife was abusive toward Isaiah and that “he failed to intervene and stop the abuse.” He said he did not seek medical attention for Isaiah in the past because “he feared his wife would lie about who caused the injuries and he would go to jail.”
‘Deserved a better chance at life’
On Wednesday, Rachel Gritz said Isaiah was “a little angry and he had issues,” but when she spoke to him in video calls, he was a happy 8-yearold, always excited to talk about books he was reading. About seven months ago, Rachel Gritz said her grandson started acting withdrawn in their calls, and after she began asking Leon Gritz questions, he stopped contacting her.
Rachel Gritz said she doesn’t believe Isaiah would have tried to harm himself.
“It’s a boldfaced lie; there’s no way,” she said. “He would have never done that. He was angry, but he was also happy.”
Rachel Gritz, who lives in Oklahoma with her 6-year-old daughter, said if she knew where Isaiah’s parents were really living, she would have reported them to California officials. She now feels “disgusted” that her son and his wife are accused of killing her grandson.
“I’m angry — I’m extremely angry,” she said. “Instead of cutting me off, they could have reached out and said, ‘Hey we’re stressed out, we need help.’ I would have immediately left Oklahoma and came to them.”
Rachel Gritz said she is now focused on funeral arrangement and making sure Isaiah’s 1-year-old sister and 6-year-old brother are safe in foster care.
She remembers Isaiah as a “very smart kid,” who loved school and telling jokes. Now, Rachel Gritz said, she can’t stop crying when she thinks of Isaiah’s short life.
“He was a good boy; he was a good kid,” she said. “He deserved a better chance at life than what he got.”
Christina and Leon Gritz remained in the Clark County Detention Center without bail, jail records show. They are scheduled to appear in court on April 5.