LAS VEGAS (AP) – A 17-year-old taken into custody after her severely malnourished 4-month-old daughter was hospitalized and the corpse of a 3-year-old was found at a North Las Vegas home is a victim and won’t face criminal charges, the district attorney in Las Vegas said Monday.
The teen was released Monday from juvenile detention into the custody of county child protective services, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said.
“This child is a victim in this case and can best receive appropriate and necessary services through the dependency court system and family services,” Wolfson said in a statement.
North Las Vegas police Officer Aaron Patty said the 4-month-old child was released from a hospital and turned over Monday to the custody of Clark County Child Protective Services.
Police in North Las Vegas are continuing to probe what they have described as a three-generation case of child abuse involving the girl’s mother, Kellie Cherie Phillips, 38, a man she described as her stepfather, Jondrew Magil Lachaux, 39, and the discovery of the couple’s 3-year-old daughter dead in the back seat of a broken-down car in the garage of a home on Wood Thrush Place.