Las Vegas infant’s death in 2018 ruled a homicide

The Clark County coroner’s office ruled the death of 4-month-old Arlette Sanchez a homicide, more than nine months after her father was charged with first-degree murder.

Arlette died from head and neck trauma at University Medical Center on March 31, the coroner’s office said Friday afternoon. Her father, 24-year-old Victor Tarin Sanchez, of Las Vegas, was charged with first-degree murder on April 3, 2018.

Sanchez is set for a jury trial in the case on April 22, district court records show.

Arlette was taken to University Medical Center the day before she died after she was found not breathing, police have said. Doctors and officers determined that Sanchez’s explanation for the baby’s injuries —he said he pressed against her abdomen and gently shook her in a panic to stop her from choking —didn’t match the severity of the injuries, an arrest report said.

The reports said Arlette’s brain injuries were “catastrophic.”

Arlette’s mother told police she left the baby in Sanchez’s care on March 29 while she went to the store, and she later received a call from him to come home because something was wrong with the baby. Sanchez told her to wait on calling 911, but she called anyway, the report said.

The woman said a similar incident happened about a month earlier when Arlette was in Sanchez’s care. He called to say Arlette was choking, and he made the baby throw up by pressing on her stomach and chest, the report said.

Arlette continued to vomit a few days after that incident, but a physician later determined the baby had the flu, the report said.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.