LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — An arrest report is revealing more details about what led up to a two-year-old's body being discovered in a dumpster last week.
On Thursday, June 6, police received a 911 call from Diaja Smith around 8:25 p.m. The report states she told the dispatcher that her two-year-old child was missing from a park at 417 S. 15th Street.
Officers responded to the scene and began looking for the child.
Smith told detectives that she left her apartment and took the bus with her three children to the park. When they got to the playground, she told officers two of her children went to play and she placed her third child on the ground so she could change his diaper.
While she was changing the diaper, she told detectives that it "was too quiet" and when she looked up, she saw that one of her children was gone.
Throughout the interview, detectives asked Smith where she lived as well as her previous arrest and Child Protective Services history. The report states that "information she provided was unclear, as she changed the timeline multiple times." Detectives also checked video footage in and around the bus route that Smith told them about. However, she was not seen in any of the video, according to the report.
The child's body was found at 12:58 a.m. on Friday morning inside a dumpster in an alley in the 1300 block of Lewis Avenue.
The Clark County Coroner Investigator said the child had "significant signs of physical injury to the head, torso, and buttocks."
The report states that before one of Smith's interviews, detectives and Child Protective Services officials saw one of Smith's children was wearing long-sleeved clothing and pants, even though the weather is hot. When the child raised his arms and exposed his stomach, it "revealed he had extensive discoloration, consistent with bruising to his abdomen."
When Smith was asked about the injury, the report states Smith told them he fell into a bush while riding a bicycle. The boy was taken to Sunrise Hospital to be treated. While receiving treatment, medical staff discovered he had a brain bleed and as of the time the report was filed, he is in critical condition.
According to the report, detectives asked Smith if she ever physically abused her kids and she said she disciplines the boys by putting them in timeout and she denied hitting them.
During an interview with detectives, the children's father, Jacoby Robinson Sr., said he had been with Smith for about six and a half years and they five children together. Two daughters had already been removed from Smith's custody by CPS officials in Texas.
Robinson told police that Smith had physically abused their son in the past and that "she uses either a black belt, or a black android charging cord to strike him." The report states he told detectives he had seen this happen at least five times in the past.
According to Robinson, he woke up around 7 a.m. on Thursday morning and heard Smith beating her son but that he eventually fell back asleep. When he work up later, he told detectives he checked on his son who appeared to be fine. Then, he told police he left in the afternoon to panhandle and get some week. When he returned at midnight, Robinson told police no one was home and he didn't know his son was missing.
CPS officials gave detectives Smith's address and investigators looked through surveillance video, which showed Smith and Robinson leaving their apartment building. At the time, she was seen carrying one child while pushing another in a stroller. However, the report states the child was "not observed moving while inside the stroller." The report states she continued with her children to 13th Street, towards the area near the dumpster, and she stepped out of the camera's view.
When detectives told Smith that a child had been found, "she became irate and demanded that she be taken to jail." According to the report, she later claimed her son was having a seizure, she had never seen one before, panicked, and called Robinson for help but "it was too late."
Both Smith and Robinson were arrested.
Clark County Detention Center records show both are in custody, as of Monday night.
Smith is facing open murder and child abuse charges while Robinson has been charged with allowing child abuse and/or neglect and endangering a child.
The pair are scheduled to be in court on Tuesday.
