Arielle Mathews, a friend of Amari Nicholson’s grandmother, holds up a photo of Amari on her phone during a vigil for Amari in front of the Emerald Suites on Paradise Road Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Terrell Rhodes, 27, the boyfriend of Amari’s mother, has been arrested on a murder count in connection with Amari’s death.
Thursday, May 13, 2021 | 1:15 p.m.
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A man accused of killing his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son told authorities he hit the child several times with a closed fist because the boy had wet his pants, according to a Metro Police arrest affidavit.
The man, Terrell Tavoris Rhodes, told police the boy’s face turned blue and he stopped breathing, according to the affidavit.
Rhodes attempted CPR on the boy, Amari Nicholson, and when that failed, he disposed of the body, police said.
Rhodes was booked Tuesday at the Clark County Detention Center on a count of murder following an arrest during which he fought officers and briefly took one of their guns, police said.
Amari’s remains were recovered Wednesday about 400 feet from the apartment Rhodes shared with the boy’s mother, Tayler Nicholson, a week after he was reported missing, police said.
According to police, Nicholson lefter her son with Rhodes when she went to Colorado on April 30 to help her mother, who had recently suffered an injury. While she was there, she broke up with Rhodes on May 3 during a text message argument, police said.
Two days later, Rhodes told Nicholson a woman stopped by the apartment and picked up Amari, according to police. He said the woman told him the mother had arranged the pickup, police said.
Nicholson called 911 from Colorado to report Amari had been kidnapped, but police initially dismissed the incident as a child custody dispute, the report said. She returned to Las Vegas the same day and contacted police again, prompting a search for the child, the report said.
Police subsequently searched the apartment and found blood on a wall and a plastic bag with soiled children’s clothing, the report said.
Homicide detectives interviewed Rhodes, who was placed under arrest. He being held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center and is due in court Monday morning.
