3-year-old girl found dead in duffel bag in east Las Vegas ID’d
The Clark County coroner’s office identified the 3-year-old girl whose body was found in a duffel bag last week at her mother’s eastern Las Vegas Valley home.
Dejah Hunt’s death was ruled a homicide by the coroner’s office.
The mother, Aisha Yvonne Thomas, 29, told police she hit the child the day of her death. During an interview with police, Thomas said she backhanded Dejah, “striking her on the left side of the head” after the girl wet herself, according to Thomas’ arrest report.
Thomas was arrested Friday on a murder charge, one day after calling 911 to report that her daughter wandered off while walking to a grocery story near Lake Mead and Hollywood boulevards, the report said.
After discrepancies in Thomas’ initial account of her daughter’s disappearance, a second search of her apartment that day led police to a “wet, moldy smell” from a bedroom closet. Dejah’s body was found in a duffel bag, wrapped in white trash bags, the report said.
She had visible abrasions and bruises on the left side of her head. The coroner’s office ruled her death was caused by blunt force trauma.
Thomas was being held in the Clark County Detention Center without bail Wednesday, jail records show.
Thomas’ other three children, all younger than 3, were taken by child protective services, which investigated the family once in 2017.
A GoFundMe site was started for the family of the girl, identified as Dejah Amara on the page, for funeral expenses and money to transfer her body to her family in California. As of Wednesday evening, $950 had been raised.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.