The FBI offers up to $10,000 for information leading to the identification of the 10-year-old Hispanic boy, Thursday June 3, 2021, who’s body was found in the desert between Las Vegas and Pahrump on Friday May 28.
Thursday, June 3, 2021 | 12:08 p.m.
Going into a week since a boy’s remains were found in the outskirts of Las Vegas, the FBI is offering a $10,000 reward to help identify the child or the person who killed him.
Authorities this morning in a news conference unveiled a digitally enhanced composite sketch of what the victim looked like. He was believed to be between the ages of 8 and 10 and had a gap in his front teeth. He stood 4 feet, 11 inches, and weighed about 120 pounds.
Metro Police, which has fielded hundreds of tips, doesn't know how the boy’s body got there or who killed him.
The remains of the boy, who is being referred to by law enforcement as John “Little Zion” Doe, were discovered by a hiker Friday in a “forest area” in the Mountain Springs community, off state Route 160, the road that connects Las Vegas to Pahrump.
Officers responded about 7:30 a.m. to the Mountain Springs Trailhead, about 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas. On Saturday, a woman misidentified the victim as her 8-year-old son, leading multistate authorities to search for his father and stepbrother.
The man and the two boys, who were out hiking in Utah, were later found safe.
The FBI office in Las Vegas, a close partner to Metro, has stepped in to offer the reward money and any resources needed to crack the case. Tips received, which police have probed one by one, have come from across the United States, and include high-profile missing children’s cases.
Investigators believe the boy’s body was left in the remote area sometime between 12 a.m. and 7 a.m. Friday, Metro Lt. Ray Spencer said.
“This child has a right to be referred to by his given name,” FBI Special Agent Jeremy Schwartz said during the briefing. “He’s someone’s son, someone’s grandson, and he deserves law enforcement commitment to solving this case.”
Investigators with the Department of Homeland Security; the U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the Clark County School District Police, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office, Henderson Police and Clark County Family Services have also collaborated in the investigation.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children created the composite image, and Metro has been in contact with bordering jurisdictions in Nevada and Southern California, Spencer said.
Although Spencer touted the daily partnership between Metro and the FBI, he said this was the first time since he’s been in the homicide unit that the federal agency has been used to try to identify a slaying victim.
For the probe to “move much more rapidly,” officials need to know who the victim is, Spencer said. “It’s hard for us in a sense that we cannot identify him,” he added.
Investigators, who’ve been working around the clock, have been scouring the area for footage but haven’t found anything conclusive, said Spencer, who hasn’t revealed how the boy died, only noting that he was the victim of a “horrible act.”
Information from the public, “regardless of how small,” Spencer said, “... could be the tip that leads to a break in the case.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Metro at 702-828-3521 or via email at [email protected]. The FBI’s tip lines can be accessed at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or [email protected].
