Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

NLV Police arrest mother for child neglect after missing girls found

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Eloina Avalos-Perez

A mother has been booked on two counts of child neglect after reporting that her two elementary-school-aged daughters were missing, according to North Las Vegas Police.

Eloina Avalos-Perez, 47, was being held at the Las Vegas Detention Center on a $40,000 bond, jail logs show.

Her daughters, ages 6 and 9, turned up Saturday afternoon, about 24 hours after they were seen leaving Lincoln Elementary School, near Cheyenne Avenue and Civic Center Drive, police said. They were “in great health” at a friend’s house, police said in a news release.

When Avalos-Perez reported them missing about 11:30 p.m. Friday, she told police that she’d arranged for them to be picked up by a babysitter when she realized she had to be at work during pickup, Officer Eric Leavitt said.

The babysitter, who apparently confirmed her account, told police she went to the school to scoop up the girls and other children she takes care of, but that Avalos-Perez’s daughters weren’t there, Leavitt said.

The sitter thought they’d walked home — which is right down the street — as they do when their mother is home, Leavitt said.

Avalon-Perez got home from work late Friday and realized that her daughters weren’t with the babysitter, Leavitt said.

It wasn’t clear how police found the girls, how hey ended up with the so-called friend or who that person was. Before finding them, police released a photo of a woman who’d been caught interacting with the girls in the school yard after class.

Further details were not provided.