Police find fetus in freezer while searching apartment

By Las Vegas Sun Staff (contact)

Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014 | 2:26 p.m.

Officers made a bizarre discovery — a jar containing a human fetus — when they stopped at a Las Vegas apartment Wednesday as part of an unrelated shooting investigation, Metro Police said.

After an officer smelled marijuana in the apartment, located at 6666 W. Washington Ave., police searched the unit and found the fetus inside a freezer, according to a Metro report.

The woman who leases the apartment, Carlena Walker, 25, said she had a miscarriage in October 2013 and had decided to put the 8-week-old fetus in a jar and keep it in the freezer, the report said.

Because of the unusual circumstances, police contacted the Clark County Coroner’s Office, which took custody of the fetus, officials said.

Police also found marijuana and a stolen gun at the bottom of a baby bassinet, the police report said.

Walker’s boyfriend, Preston Caudle, 24, who was at the apartment with Walker’s son, was arrested on counts of possession of marijuana, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, possession of a stolen gun and child endangerment.

Walker also was arrested on a count of child endangerment. Child Protective Services took custody of the child, according to the report.

Police originally went to the apartment to investigate a tip about a shooting Monday at the apartment complex. An officer smelled marijuana, and Walker gave police permission to come inside and to search for guns and narcotics, the report said.

Walker said that when police knocked on the door, Caudle tried to hide the marijuana and the gun, a .22-caliber Beretta, the report said.