Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Metro says ‘missteps’ made locating child victims in stabbing

Fatal Stabbing at Budget Suites

Steve Marcus

Metro officers and a crime scene analyst are shown near an apartment after a fatal stabbing at Budget Suites in the 8400 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard Monday, Nov. 20, 2017.

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Marcus Maddox

Fatal Stabbing at Budget Suites

A view of the Budget Suites in the 8400 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard Monday, Nov. 20, 2017. Launch slideshow »

A man called 911 on Sunday and told dispatchers police would find a badly beaten woman and a man shot in the head at a northeast valley extended-stay hotel, according to a Metro Police arrest report.

Marcus Denzel Maddox, 30, was then heard telling the injured woman, his estranged wife, “I love you, baby,” before he counted to two and shot himself in the head, police said.

Maddox and the woman were found about 6 p.m. Sunday with life-threatening injuries, but they both survived.

Roughly 17 hours later, police responded to another extended-stay hotel on the other side of the valley, where they found the couple’s children. A 13-year-old girl was dead, and her brother, 15, had life-threatening stab wounds and a skull fracture, police said.

Regarding the time it took authorities to locate the children, Officer Jay Rivera said today said there were “missteps on our end” and Metro has launched an internal review to identify “what we could have done better.” He did not elaborate.

Earlier this month, the 13-year-old girl alleged that Maddox, a felon who spent time in prison in a 2005 attempted murder case, had sexually abused her, police said.

Metro Lt. Dan McGrath had said on Monday police had addresses linked to that case but not the one where the children were eventually found about 11:15 a.m. Monday at Budget Suites in the 8400 block of Las Vegas Boulevard South.

Clark County Child Protective Services had the address in its files, and a CPS case worker first discovered the children after responding to a Metro alert Monday morning, police said.

Without specifically discussing the case, Clark County spokesman Dan Kulin said: “We work closely with law enforcement on any case in which a crime is alleged to have occurred. We have a long tradition of sharing information and working together so that children are removed from dangerous situations, and those committing abuse are prosecuted.”

“The Department of Family Services has a 24-hour hotline for law enforcement, which officers routinely use to reach DFS staff after hours,” Kulin said in a written statement. “We are reviewing the information we have and will be sharing that with Metro to better understand what transpired and determine whether any policies and procedures need to be changed or reinforced.”

Rivera said today, “Our current understanding is that CPS acted appropriately.”

The violent episode began Sunday when, sometime before Maddox called 911 at 5:54 p.m., the children were stabbed at the Budget Suites and left to die, police said.

Maddox then took his estranged wife to a room they’d rented that day at the Siegel Suites at 5230 E. Craig Road, McGrath said.

Maddox told a 911 dispatcher, “We have a woman truly beaten and a man shot in the head,” according to his arrest report released today. When asked when the woman was beaten, he said, “Earlier and right now.”

Officers arrived to find the bloodied couple in a room. The woman, who separated from Maddox about three weeks ago, had trauma to the head, but she nodded yes when police asked her if Maddox attacked her and shot himself, police said.

The 13-year-old girl on Nov. 9 alleged that Maddox had sexually abused her, according to police. CPS and Metro opened an investigation but did not find enough evidence to arrest Maddox, who agreed to abide by a noncourt-mandated no-contact order until the investigation was finished, McGrath said.

Maddox, who denied the allegations, moved away from the rest of the family, and the case remained open at the time of the attacks, police said.

It wasn’t clear “if it’s the breakup that led him to this level of violence or something about the allegation,” McGrath said on Monday. “It’s a very disturbing case, obviously, for everyone involved.”

Maddox was booked in absentia at the Clark County Detention Center on counts of attempted murder, mayhem with a deadly weapon, battery resulting in substantial bodily harm, discharging a gun in a building, and unlawful possession of a firearm in connection with the attack on his estranged wife, police said.

No charges have been filed yet in the stabbing of the children.