Murder charge brought against San Jose woman
Son’s body was found on a trail near Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS >> A San Jose woman accused of killing her 7-year-old son and leaving his naked body on a hiking trail outside of Las Vegas has been indicted, according to news reports.
On Friday, a grand jury returned a murder charge indictment against 35-year-old Samantha Moreno Rodriguez, television station KSNV NBC reported.
Hikers found Liam Husted’s body May 28 near the Mountain Springs Trailhead off Highway 160 between Las Vegas and Pahrump. He was not immediately identified.
Rodriguez was arrested June 8 in Denver after a family friend recognized the boy’s image from news reports.
The Clark County Coroner’s Office determined Liam was strangled to death and ruled his death a homicide. According to prosecutors, Rodriguez admitted to killing Liam.
“This is a pretty egregious case,” Deputy District Attorney John Giordani said at a June 30 court appearance. “She essentially said that she became frustrated with the child and strangled him.”
Authorities have said they believe Rodriguez departed San Jose with Liam in a car full of their belongings days before he was killed. A voicemail Rodriguez left for her partner Nicholas Husted included statements like “I’m sorry I had to do it like this,” “I’m going to try to get a home for Liam and I,” and “We can talk about this in the future.”
Husted and Rodriguez were not married but were raising Liam together, and had sent Liam to a learning center for autistic children, a family member told this news organization in a previous interview. At one point they hired a home counselor to help Liam with behavioral issues, but that outside help ended when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Rodriguez was due in court Tuesday.