Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Trial delayed again for man accused of raping, killing toddler found in trash bin

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William Marshall

Toddler found dead in trash bin

Metro Police officers investigate after a dead baby was discovered in a trash bin Wednesday behind the Kona Loha Sierra apartment complex. Launch slideshow »

A murder trial for a Las Vegas man accused of sexually abusing and killing his girlfriend's 21-month-old daughter in 2009 has been delayed for more than a year.

William Marshall, 39, is charged with murder with the use of a deadly weapon and sexual assault in connection with the death of Shia Faye Travis. The toddler's body was found June 10, 2009, wrapped in a pillow case in a trash bin at 560 Sierra Vista Ave.

Marshall's jury trial, which had been delayed twice already, was to have started Monday, but was delayed again at the request of his public defender, Danny Silverstein.

Judge Jessie Walsh set the new trial date for 1 p.m. July 2, 2012, in Clark County District Court.

Marshall has been held without bail in the Clark County Detention Center since July 11, 2009. He was indicted by a grand jury on Dec. 2, 2009.

The toddler's body was found June 10, 2009, by two men looking for cans in a trash bin behind Marshall's apartment complex, according to an arrest report. Officers said the body was clothed in only a diaper with a Winnie the Pooh design.

Marshall has been in custody since his arrest at a Tempe, Ariz., motel where he was found with the toddler's mother, Darrean Williams, 22.

Williams, who lived in the Las Vegas apartment with Marshall, told police she was in Phoenix earning money. Williams' sister has told police she was a prostitute and had traveled to the Phoenix area to work, leaving Shia under Marshall's care.

Detectives said Williams told them she had sent Marshall $900 from Phoenix on June 8, 2009, and that he had picked up the money. Detectives said they found that Marshall had purchased a Greyhound bus ticket showing a departure date of 6:20 a.m. June 10, 2009, from Las Vegas to Phoenix.

During the autopsy, medical investigators found blunt force trauma to the child's head, according to an arrest report. Medical investigators also said there were injuries consistent with rape.

When police searched the apartment, investigators found two softball-sized divots in a bedroom wall that matched the size of the girl's head and also contained her hair. An autopsy revealed that the girl had died from a blow or blows to her head from fists or from being thrown against a wall.

Records indicate investigators also found similar hair in an empty section of the apartment's freezer where Marshall and the girl's mother lived. The hair matched that of the victim, police said.

Investigators found a pillow missing a case in the apartment. They also found diapers that matched the size and type Shia Travis was wearing.

Officers said that on May 20, 2009, police had responded to a domestic dispute at Marshall's and Williams' apartment and that one of the officers had spent quite a bit of time with the child. The officer positively identified the child found in the dumpster as the same girl in the apartment on May 20, 2009, the police report said.

The photo of the deceased child was also identified by her paternal grandparents, according to police.

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