LAS VEGAS — A California woman who is a suspect in the death of her 7-year-old son was arrested in Denver early Tuesday morning by the Denver Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force led by the FBI.
Samantha Moreno Rodriguez, 35, will be booked into a Denver-area jail for one count of open murder pending extradition to Las Vegas. In a briefing Tuesday afternoon, police said they're not sure why she was in Denver. They said a man was with her when she was arrested in Denver, but they don't believe that man is connected to the case.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police (LVMPD) were looking for Rodriguez in connection with the death of her son, Liam Husted.
Hikers found the boy's body on May 28 off a trail in Mountain Springs off State Route 160 between Las Vegas and rural Pahrump. Authorities could not initially identify the boy. Several days after he was found, they released artist renderings of him and offered a $10,000 reward.
It wasn't until a family friend saw the sketches and called San Jose police that they got a lead that it was Liam. Detectives with LVMPD traveled there and collected a pillow that belonged to Liam and were able to match DNA from it to the body.
> Video above: Denver unveils plan to address violent crime.
Rodriguez, who is from San Jose, Calif., was previously seen on May 31 at a Denver-area hotel. She was seen driving a blue 2007 Dodge Caliber with California license plate 6WLH211 in Colorado, the Facebook post says.
She was wanted on a murder warrant. Authorities have not said how the boy died. Anyone with information should call the LVMPD homicide section at (702) 828-3521.
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