Las Vegas police ID body found by hikers as missing California boy; mother named suspect

LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas authorities confirmed Monday that the body of a boy hikers found May 28 near Mountain Springs, Nevada, has been identified as 7-year-old Liam Husted, reported missing from the San Jose, California, area on June 1.

Husted’s mother, 35-year-old Samantha Moreno Rodriguez, is considered a suspect in the child’s killing, and a warrant has been issued for her arrest, KVVU-TV reported.

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Husted was last seen with Rodriguez on May 24, but she was last seen checking into a hotel alone in the Denver, Colorado, area on May 31, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

According to KVVU-TV, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was able to partner with the San Jose Police Department to connect the homicide and missing person cases after a family friend told police that the slain boy resembled a composite sketch of Husted released by media outlets.

According to police, Rodriguez and Husted left San Jose on May 24, passed through Laguna Beach and into Victorville, California, on May 26. The child’s body was found two days later near the Mountain Springs Trailhead, between Las Vegas and Pahrump, the Review-Journal reported.

Police stated that Rodriguez is believed to be driving a blue 2007 Dodge Caliber with California license plate 6WLH211.

“Liam was discovered early in the morning on the 28th of May. Shortly thereafter, on the 29th of May, we know that the vehicle was traveling on I-70 near Grand Junction, Colorado,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department homicide Lt. Ray Spencer told KVVU-TV.

Meanwhile, Spencer told the Review-Journal on Monday that DNA evidence confirmed Husted’s identity late Sunday.

Spencer also confirmed that Husted’s father, who reported the child missing June 1 when he could not reach Rodriguez, is not considered a suspect in the case.

Police have not yet released Husted’s cause of death, the Review-Journal reported.

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