Girl found dead in trash bin near Convention Center

By Mary Manning

Published Wednesday, June 10, 2009 | 4:16 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, June 10, 2009 | 7:01 p.m.

A baby girl was found dead in a trash bin near the Las Vegas Convention Center this afternoon.

Metro Police homicide detectives and abuse and neglect officers are investigating after the baby was found in the trash bin in an open parking lot at the back of the Kona Loa apartment complex at 594 Sierra Vista Drive, Metro Police spokeswoman Officer Barbara Morgan said.

The baby's body was found about 4 p.m. Police said the girl was between 1 and 2 years old.

Lt. Lew Roberts, chief of Metro's homicide detectives, said a man going through the items in the bin found the infant wrapped in something, perhaps a sheet. The man flagged down an officer in a patrol car in the neighborhood.

The trash bin was in an open parking lot at the back of the apartment complex. Police officers blocked off the area with yellow crime scene tape.

This is not the first case of a child being dumped in a trash bin in the Las Vegas Valley.

On Jan. 12, 2007, a man called police and said he had found the body of a dead child in a trash bin at an apartment complex at 2800 S. Eastern Ave., near Karen Drive. It took police six weeks to identify 3-year-old Crystal Figueroa.

Her mother, 26-year-old Gladys Perez, and former boyfriend, 30-year-old Marc Anthony Colon, were convicted of killing Crystal. The mother is serving life in prison with the possibility of parole and Colon was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

The child's grandmother, Lila Perez, filed a police report about the missing girl and later identified her from photos of her clothing.

Nevada has a Safe Haven law that allows parents of unwanted newborns to drop infants off at a hospital, fire station or church, police said.

Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (702) 385-5555. Callers may remain anonymous.