An arrest report provides more details about the events leading to the discovery of a toddler’s body in a Las Vegas dumpster last week, including signs of abuse found on another of the mother’s children.
Jacoby Robinson Jr., 2, was found dead in a dumpster a few blocks from the home where he lived with his father, Jacoby Robinson Sr, and mother, Diaja Smith, as CrimeOnline reported.
Robinson Sr., 24, and Smith, 23, have both been charged in the case — Smith has been charged with open murder and child abuse, while Robinson Sr. has been charged with child abuse. He was charged on Monday with murder as well, KLAS reported.
Prosecutors said the boy had injuries all over his body from being whipped with a cord. Officials also noted that the toddler had injuries to his genitals consistent with rubber bands that were found in Robinson and Smith’s home.
The Clark County Coroner investigator said that the boy has “significant signs of physical injury to the head, torso, and buttocks,” KTNV reported.
According to the arrest report, Smith called 911 just before 8:30 p.m. on Thursday and reported her 2-year-old was missing. Smith told detectives that she had taken her three children to the park near her home. Two of the children — Robinson Jr. and his twin brother — went to play while she changed the diaper of the third. She told police it seemed “too quiet,” so she looked around and saw that the toddler was gone.
Smith told police she took a bus to the park, but investigators did not see any of the family on video from the bus, KLAS said.
The tot’s body was found in the dumpster — in an alley near the family’s home — at about 1 a.m. Friday.
The arrest report reveals that Robinson Jr.’s twin was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and long pants, although the weather was hot. Child Protective Services found “extensive discoloration, consistent with bruising” on that boy’s abdomen. Detectives asked Smith about the injury, and she told them that he fell into a bush while riding his bicycle.
The boy was taken to Sunrise Hospital for treatment, and while there, doctors found a brain bleed. At the time the arrest report was made, the child was in critical condition.
Robinson Sr. told investigators that he and Smith had been together for more than six years and have five children together, but two daughters were removed from their custody by Child Protective Services in Texas. Smith, however, told detectives that the two children were taken away after a “domestic violence incident” with a previous boyfriend, KVVU said.
Police said that information Smith gave them during their interview about her “was unclear, as she changed the timeline multiple times.”
Robinson Sr. also told police that Smith beats the children with either a black belt or a charging cord, KTNV reported.
On the morning of Robinson Jr’s disappearance, the father told police he woke up at about 7 a.m. to the sounds of Smith beating one of the children but fell back asleep. He woke uplater and checked on the boy, who appeared fine, so he went out to panhandle. When he returned after midnight, no one was home.
Police said surveillance video from about 8 p.m. on Thursday showed Smith leaving the apartment building, KLAS reported. Smith was carrying a child and pushing Robinson Jr. in a stroller. The child in the stroller was “not observed moving while inside the stroller,” the report said. The family walked toward the area of the dumpster, where Smith stepped out of the view of the camera.
The report says that Smith “became irate and demanded that she be taken to jail” when officers told her Robinson Jr. had been found. The report also said that she later claimed the boy had a seizure and she panicked and called the child’s father for help, but “it was too late.”
Smith and Robinson Sr. are due in court on Tuesday. They are currently being held without bail.
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[Featured image: Jacoby Robinson/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department]
