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Police ID woman arrested in connection with death of 2 children

Metropolitan Police Department records have identified a woman arrested Friday on suspicion of murder in connection with the death of her 1-year-old and 2-month-old children.

Amanda Sharp-Jefferson, 26, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and faces two counts of murder, according to Metro booking logs and court records. She was arrested after police were called about 12:15 p.m. Friday to an apartment on the 1000 block of Sierra Vista Drive, near East Desert Inn Road and South Maryland Parkway, and found both babies dead, homicide Lt. Ray Spencer said.

“The father of the children came home and noticed that both children were in a corner in the living room area,” Spencer said on Friday afternoon. “(He) went up to both children and noticed that both children were cold and were obviously deceased.”

It was unclear how the children died, although Spencer said detectives had a “very good idea what the cause of injury is” for the 1-year-old.

It was too early in the investigation to determine if the mother suffered from a mental illness, but Spencer on Friday he “would definitely not rule that out at this point.”

Court records list only one prior arrest for Sharp-Jefferson — she pleaded no contest in January 2017 to a misdemeanor destruction of property charge, although the case was later dismissed.

She is due to appear in court on Saturday afternoon. Further information about her arrest was not immediately available.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.

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