Woman accused of drowning kids works for Clark County Family Services

A Henderson woman charged with killing her two children is employed by Clark County in a job aimed at helping children and families, a county official confirmed Thursday.

County spokesman Erik Pappa said Jovan Trevino, 33, is employed as a family services assistant with the county Department of Family Services.

“She has been employed full-time with the county since July 1, 2019,” Pappa said in an emailed statement. “She worked part-time as a family services specialist between Jan. 30, 2018, through June 30, 2019. As a family services assistant, she generally completes paperwork, helps families apply for assistance, assists with transportation, monitors visitations and performs other duties. Her salary is $38,646.40 annually.”

Trevino was arrested Tuesday at Western Arizona Regional Medical Center in Bullhead City, according to a statement from Bullhead City police. She is suspected of drowning her two children, Gihanna Fox, 1, and Christopher Fox III, 4, on Monday at their Henderson home.

The mother waived extradition to Nevada during a three-minute hearing Wednesday in Mohave County Superior Court in Kingman.

A Henderson police arrest warrant for Trevino states that she checked into the Bullhead City hospital voluntarily, then confessed to hospital staff and police that she had killed her children by drowning them in separate bathtubs in their home in the 700 block of Calamus Palm Place, off Galleria Drive near Stufflebeam Avenue.

During a search of the home, police found the children’s bodies and a suicide note written by Trevino, Henderson police said in the warrant.

Officers initially were called to the family home about 6:30 p.m. Monday by the children’s father, Christopher Fox, to investigate a medical emergency. When first responders arrived, the children were “beyond assistance” and pronounced dead at the scene, Henderson police said.

Fox has started a GoFundMe page to help deal with the financial expenses stemming from the tragedy. He posted a photo of him with the children saying:

“Unfortunately on July 19, 2021, we lost both my kids to an unnecessary crime,” Fox wrote. “Christopher and Gihanna were our lovely kids and just made our days better by just looking at them smile. Christopher was an amazing kid with a big heart and knew what to do to make you have a better day. Christopher just loved to be around people and was an social kid. Gihanna was our dancer and sassy child she loves music and dancing. She would walk up to us and gives us a big hug when we came home from work. Our kids a had so much life ahead of them and we wanted to see them prosper in whatever they wanted to do in life. They will be truly missed as our hearts are hurting right now. We would appreciate anything to help put our kids to rest in a good place.”

Records show that Trevino previously asked for full custody of the children in a filing against their father. She cited a history of domestic violence, records show.

In the filing, she also cited multiple protection orders previously filed against Fox. The couple lived together. The custody case remained open as of Wednesday.

Criminal records show that Fox was charged on Oct. 4 with a third offense of violating a protection order. He pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in the case on Sept. 21, according to District Court documents.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Trevino’s decision to waive extradition means local authorities avoided the potential for weeks of delays in returning her to Southern Nevada for prosecution.

“We expect her to physically be in Nevada pretty quickly, within just a couple of days,” Wolfson said.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.