Police: Suspect in slaying admitted slapping, tying up child

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez

Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016 | 4:12 p.m.

When he found out his roommate’s 7-year-old son had died, Kenneth Leon Robinson Jr. admitted he tied up the boy, slapped him and “popped” him once in the stomach, according to a Metro Police arrest report.

Medical crews found the boy, Richard Findley, unresponsive with marks on his arms and ankles, bruising on his stomach and arms, and a handprint on his buttocks and hip, police said. He died at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

Police were dispatched about 3 p.m. Sunday to an apartment in the 4800 block of Boulder Highway, near Nellis Boulevard, to investigate the death, police said.

Initially, Robinson, 31, who was arrested that day on a count of murder, told police the child had a history of being “disrespectful and disobedient” and would hit himself in the face, the report said. But once he learned the child had died, he admitted causing the injuries, the report said.

Robinson said that about 7 a.m. Sunday, he tied Richard’s arms behind his back and left him like that for several hours, the report said. After the boy threw up twice, Robinson said, “he could tell something was wrong with him,” according to the report.

The boy’s mother, who said she was asleep at the apartment, told detectives she didn’t witness any abuse that day, though she had seen Robinson hit the boy in the past, according to the report.

When asked about why he initially misled investigators, Robinson broke down and said it was because he’d taught his daughter honesty and that he pictured her face when he wasn’t telling the truth, the report said.

Robinson made an initial appearance in court today and was assigned a public defender, records show. He was being held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center.