March 28, 2024

Police: Babysitter Accused of Beating Five-Year-Old to Death

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A babysitter stands accused of beating a little boy to death after he apparently had an accident, an arrest report from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said.

“Lauren Jeanette Courtney faces a murder charge and multiple counts of child abuse after 5-year-old Ryan James Peralta was hospitalized and later died,” KAKE reported Thursday.

The arrest report said officers were called to the boy’s father’s home on March 11 following reports of an unresponsive child with bruising on his head:

Courtney, the child’s babysitter, reportedly called the father saying the child was coughing up blood. The father came home and watched surveillance video that reportedly showed Courtney beating the child.

The arrest report said the home surveillance video showed “a horrendous account of what visually took place with Ryan on how he was severely beaten during a two-minute time frame.” The arrest report described Courtney dragging the child between rooms and repeatedly punching and kicking the child in the head and body.

Peralta was transported to University Medical Center and he suffered a brain bleed, skull fracture, fractured spleen, and damage to additional internal organs, according to the arrest report.

During an interview with police, Courtney allegedly told officers the child had had an accident and needed a shower.

“While he was showering, she said she heard a ‘thud’ and saw a bruise on his forehead when he was done,” the KAKE article read, adding she reportedly assumed he fell in the shower and his illness was because of the fall:

When police confronted the babysitter about the surveillance footage, she continued to deny anything happened. Eventually, Courtney told police she may have “blacked out” from anger after the accident. Courtney reportedly said the accident by the child was “the final straw that triggered her anger.”

The suspect allegedly admitted she smokes “weed” and has experimented with drugs in the past, and also claimed she has “mental issues,” according to KTNV.

“Courtney’s boyfriend told police that she picked up McDonald’s on the way home the day of the incident and she didn’t act unusual when she arrived home. They were eating when police arrived,” the article read.

She is reportedly being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail and her next court appearance is set to take place on May 18.

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Breitbart News 2021-03-27 18:36:00

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