A babysitter has been arrested for allegedly stabbing a toddler to death, police say.
Police officers responded to the Villa Del Sol apartment complex on the 4200 block of Channel 10 Drive, where they discovered 3-year-old Journei Ross suffering from multiple stab wounds, resulting in her death, according to 3News.
Marketta Phillips, 41, was apprehended shortly after the discovery and booked into Clark County Detention Center on charges of murder with a deadly weapon.
‘She didn’t deserve this,’ Jeremy Ross, Journei’s father, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. ‘She was defenseless. She deserved to live.’
At around 3.30am Wednesday morning, Jeremy returned home from work and noticed Marketta acting ‘out of it,’ according to the outlet.
He entered another room and discovered bloody knives and his daughter lying on the bed.
Jeremy frantically called 911 while giving CPR and chest compressions, informing dispatchers that his daughter had been stabbed by her babysitter.
When authorities arrived to the scene, they found Jeremy inside the apartment with Journei, who was suffering from several stab wounds. Marketta, Jeremy said, ran away from the home on foot.
Journei was rushed to Sunrise Hospital after officers attempted to administer medical aid at the scene, where she was later pronounced dead.
Police began canvassing the area around the apartment complex and soon found Marketta, who was taken into custody without incident, according to Metro Homicide Lt. Robert Price.
Phalan Whitson, Journei’s mother who shared custody with Jeremy, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that her daughter, whom she had last seen Monday morning, was ‘on the spectrum’ and non-verbal.
Phalan explained Journei communicated through music and sign language.
‘Why is this world so evil?’ Phalan told the outlet. ‘She needs to be put away.’
Though the relationship between Marketta and the family was initially unclear, Jeremy explained how he had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with her.
‘She watched Journei numerous times,’ Jeremy told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. ‘I didn’t know she was a crazy nut case.’
This isn’t the first time Marketta has had an incident inside the home. Last week, officers responded to a mental health crisis at the same unit, FOX 5 Vegas reported.
The recent visit resulted in Marketta being placed on a ‘Legal 2000,’ or a 72-hour involuntary mental health crisis hold utilized for those determined to be a danger to themselves or others.
Despite the incident, Marketta was still left to care for the child the following week.
She made her first court appearance on Thursday morning, where Justice of the Peace Suzan Baucum ordered Marketta to be held without bail.
Neighbors were in shock upon learning what had happened.
As they reflected on the events from that morning, a few recalled strange things they had witnessed – things they deemed unimportant at the time.
A neighbor who was walking his dog around the complex at around 9am, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he heard commotion early that morning.
Specifically, he heard a man and a woman loudly screaming and clearly arguing, a noise his dog had first alerted him to.
He explained that the area can be noisy at times, and since he was tired, he didn’t give much thought to the nearby argument at first.
‘After a while, I started feeling this bad energy,’ he told the outlet.
Jessica Flores, from a neighboring building, watched investigators enter the unit and cordon off the home with police tape.
She explained that she woke up to the sound of a dog barking loudly from another apartment.
Flores told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that she too had heard a man and a woman yelling between the apartments, particularly in the terrace area.
‘At first, I thought it was just a domestic dispute that would blow over,’ she added. ‘I never imagined something like this.’
On Wednesday, Sheriff Sheriff Kevin McMahill described Jeremy coming home to ‘a babysitter covered in blood,’ the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Lt. Price told reporters that Marketta is the sole suspect in the murder.
According to Price, it appeared the suspect also lived in the home, though that remains unconfirmed.
