Nevada 10-year-old's remains found by hiking trail misidentified, search continues
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: Just hours after police of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced that the 10-year-old boy's remains that were found by a hiking trail were identified, they stated that there was a mistake made in identifying the body.
The remains of the young boy were found by a group of hikers in a forested region near Mountain Springs, which is located between Las Vegas and Pahrump along the Nevada-California state line. This occurred on Friday morning, May 28, and later in the day, the police released a sketch of the boy. He was identified to be 10-years-old, Hispanic, 4 feet 11 inches tall, and 123 pounds.
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The police had initially claimed that the boy had been identified as an 8-year-old after a panicked mother had made a call to the police. Following this, a picture of the truck that the 8-year-old had been traveling in along with pictures of his father and 11-year-old half-brother was released. The search came to an end on Saturday afternoon when all three had been spotted in Utah safely.
Turns out the body was misidentified by the panicked mother and on May 29, Saturday afternoon news conference, Police Lt Ray Spencer, asked the public for help in identifying the child so that they could "begin the key points of this investigation.” Explaining how the misidentification occurred, Spencer pointed to “a phone call from a panicked mother who was confident the photograph [of the sketch] she saw on TV was her son.”
Following this, they had visited the detectives and the Clark County coroner where she was shown pictures from the autopsy. It was revealed that "The mother positively identified that child as being her son, the 8-year-old child." In addition to this another family member reportedly also agreed that it was indeed the 8-year-old boy after viewing the photographs. After this, the mother also agreed and informed the police officials that she had not seen or heard from her son or his father in the last 24 hours.
Spencer explained that it was with this information that they had announced that the 10-year-old victim had been identified. However, once the police “got information they were spotted in Utah" they coordinated with Utah authorities and the Las Vegas authorities spoke with the three of them via Facetime to confirm. Spencer said, "We are still in the situation right now where we have not identified the child that was found in Mountain Springs.”
About the mistaken identity, Spencer explained, "There is a very, very close resemblance when you look at the photographs," which could have resulted in the mother making a mistake. He also said, "We’re very happy the mother was able to get the news that her 8-year-old child was found alive and the 11-year-old was found unharmed."