Parents of dead infant told North Las Vegas police they were high on meth
The parents of the infant found dead in a North Las Vegas dumpster last week told police they’d been smoking methamphetamine and selling their food stamps for drug money instead of buying food and clothes for their children, according to a recently released arrest report.
Raul Ramos, 52, and Adriana Hernandez, 32, were arrested Friday on three counts each of child abuse or neglect and one count each of destroying or concealing evidence, the North Las Vegas police report said.
The couple’s 3-month-old son was found in a dumpster behind an apartment complex on the 2500 block of Carroll Street, near Las Vegas Boulevard North, around 8:50 a.m. Jan. 19.
The man who found the baby told police he was throwing away trash and noticed a red duffel bag on top of the dumpster. He considered taking it for his own use, but when he opened it he found the boy’s body and a white blanket, the report said.
Police said the baby’s onesie was stained with what looked like vomit and asphalt, and he had “black specks of debris and dirt” on his body. According to the report, an autopsy showed “no obvious signs of trauma” but noted a cyst in the boy’s right testicle.
As of Monday, the Clark County coroner’s office had not identified the boy or determined his cause and manner of death.
A woman who lives at the apartment complex told police that a woman who used to live across from her had given birth to a baby boy in October and that the baby was sick at birth. She said the woman was married and had two other boys, ages 2 and 3, the report said.
She told police the family had been evicted a month earlier and that she was worried the baby may be theirs because she believed the family was living on the streets. According to the report, she identified the couple to police as Ramos and Hernandez.
On Jan. 22, police reviewed medical records for the couple, showing that Hernandez gave birth to a baby boy Oct. 9. The boy was treated for a heart condition, hypoglycemia, low blood oxygen and a hydrocele, or a fluid-filled sac, on his right testicle, according to the report.
Police found Hernandez working at the Casa Blanca Hotel, 2401 Las Vegas Blvd. North, where her supervisor told police she was worried about her kids because “the parents do not take care of them very well” and they “acted as if they were on drugs.”
Hernandez told police she did not have a baby, but ultimately admitted to having a baby who “is not here.” Ramos initially denied having a baby as well but eventually admitted to police that his son was dead.
He told officers that he and Hernandez were smoking methamphetamine on Jan. 18 and that they put the baby face-down on the bed with his head turned to the side after he started crying. They thought he had fallen asleep, but realized after about 10 minutes that he wasn’t breathing, the report said.
The couple decided not to call police “because they were high and nobody would believe their story,” so they put the baby in a duffel bag and disposed of it in a dumpster at their old apartment complex around 5 a.m. the following morning, according to the report.
Hernandez is being held at the Clark County Detention Center, and Ramos is being held at the Las Vegas Detention Center. They are both due in court Wednesday.
Contact Alexis Egeland at aegeland@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0335. Follow @alexis_egeland on Twitter.