The body of preschool boy has been found in the freezer of a home after the boy’s sister handed her elementary school teacher a note written by her mother.
According to the report, the note stated that the mother was being held against her will by her boyfriend inside of their home. It also went on to say that she has a younger child but was unaware of his location.
“She stated that she didn’t know where her younger child was,” Las Vegas homicide Lt. Ray Spencer said of the note’s contents, “and that she believed he was deceased.”
The teacher then contacted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department around 8 a.m. Tuesday, which prompted officers to surveil the family’s home.
At around 10:00 a.m., authorities saw the woman and her boyfriend leaving the home in a vehicle.
Authorities then followed them before conducting a traffic stop on them.
During the traffic stop, authorities detained 35-year-old Brandon Toseland while they interviewed the children’s mother.
The woman told them that she’d been dating Toseland for 11-months and that during that period he became abusive. She also told them that she hadn’t seen her 4-year-old son since Dec. 11th but was told he was dead.
The woman says her son fell ill and Toseland locked him inside the master bedroom of the home. She says he later confessed that her son was dead and that it was an accident.
After the confession, the woman says Toseland took her phone and began bounding her with robe and handcuffs and prevented her from leaving the home by herself.
Authorities reported that they noticed a handcuff attached to the passenger seat and took Toseland into custody on two counts of first-degree kidnapping.
After getting a warrant, authorities then went to the home. While searching through the garage they discovered the body of the boy inside the freezer.
While authorities say they do not believe that the mother was involved in the death of her son, they placed her daughter in the care of a relative while the investigation continues.
” It’s still early on,” Spencer said, “and there are a lot of questions that we still have to answer about what occurred over the last three months.”
Authorities say they are still working on a murder charge for Toseland.