Man arrested in smothering death of infant faces murder charge

Las Vegas police responded to a motel at 117 N. 9th St. about 4:20 a.m. after a couple said their baby was having a medical crisis, police said. The baby, who police said was 2½ months old, later died at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

About 40 minutes after police were first called, a related abuse call was generated for the same address, police said.

Police said Cash Diego Seville Ballew, 26, smothered his daughter to get her to stop crying. Ballew faces a count of open murder and is being held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center.

The Metropolitan Police Department’s abuse and neglect team has taken over the investigation. The baby’s death marked the 23rd homicide investigated by Metro this year, Las Vegas Review-Journal records show.

Public records show Ballew is registered as a sex offender after a 2007 conviction for aggravated criminal sex abuse against a family member in Peoria County, Illinois.

This is the second time in less than two weeks a father has been accused of killing his baby. On Jan. 23, Eric Chu called medical personnel after his 10-month-old daughter Jordyn stopped breathing. She died the next day at University Medical Center.

Chu fled to Chicago, where he was arrested by U.S. marshals two days after his daughter’s death. He faces a murder charge and is awaiting extradition to Las Vegas.

Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.