Samantha Rodriguez Arrested In Denver After 7-Year-Old Son Found Dead On Hiking Trail Near Las Vegas
DENVER (CBS4)- Samantha Rodriguez has been arrested in Denver after her son was found dead on a hiking trail near Las Vegas last month. The body was identified as 7-year-old Liam Husted on Monday.
Liam was last seen traveling by car with his mother, Samantha Moreno Rodriguez. Liam was reported missing from San Jose, California, after a family member told police that she hadn't seen Liam or his mother for about 2 weeks. Authorities have been searching for Rodriguez since Liam's body was identified.
Rodriguez left San Jose with her son on May 24, traveling first to Southern California and then Nevada. A hiker found the boy's body May 28 off State Route 160 near Mountain Springs just west of Las Vegas. Investigators believe his body had been recently placed there and he was the victim of a homicide.
Authorities were able to track the car that Rodriguez was last seen driving in California on Interstate 70 near Grand Junction. Then investigators tracked her to a Denver metro area hotel room on May 31 where she checked in by herself.
Rodriguez was taken into custody by the Denver Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force led by the FBI on Tuesday morning.
Rodriguez is facing murder charges in connection to the death of her son and will be booked into a Denver metro area jail pending her extradition to Las Vegas.
