‘This should never happen to a child’: Las Vegas babysitter stabbed 3-year-old to death, police say
Police said a babysitter stabbed a 3-year-old girl to death inside a central Las Vegas Valley apartment early Wednesday morning.
Metropolitan Police Department Homicide Lt. Robert Price said that around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, dispatch received a call from a father saying the babysitter, later identified as Marketta Phillips, had just stabbed his daughter at a residence in the Villa Del Sol apartment complex. Phillips, 41, fled the residence on foot after the father returned from work, according to a news release from the department.
When officers arrived at the apartment in the 4200 block of Channel 10 Drive, they found the girl, suffering from several stab wounds, with the father. They rendered medical aid and took the child to the hospital, where she later died.
Police found Phillips while canvassing the area, taking her into custody without incident, Price said.
When asked to clarify the relationship between the babysitter and father, Price said he was unsure at this time, but it appeared Phillips was also living in the home.
‘I never imagined something like this’
Anthony Dominguez, a neighbor walking his dog around the complex later that morning, told reporters he had heard a woman and man yelling and arguing around 2 a.m.. His dog alerted him to the commotion, he said.
Still, Dominguez added, he did not think much of it, given that the area was sometimes noisy and he was tired.
“After a while, I started feeling this bad energy,” Dominguez said. “I mean, it’s very sad for a child to endure that. This should never happen to a child.”
Meanwhile, crime scene investigators could be seen entering unit 79, which was made distinct by yellow police tape that surrounded it.
Jessica Flores, who lives in a neighboring building, watched them as her eyes glossed over. She said she had not known the people who lived there, but woke up to a dog barking loudly.
She said she also heard a man and woman yelling in the terrace area between the apartments.
“It’s shocking,” Flores said, getting choked up. “At first, I thought it was just a domestic dispute that would blow over. I never imagined something like this.”
‘A horrendous scene’
During an unrelated interview Wednesday afternoon, reporters asked Sheriff Kevin McMahill about the killing. He said that though he had not been briefed on it, responding officers had described how the father had come home to “a babysitter covered in blood.”
“Talk about a horrendous scene,” McMahill said.
A previous version of this story misspelled Marketta Phillips’ last name.
Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com. Review-Journal writer Katie Futterman also contributed to this report. Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X and @katiefutterman.bsky.social.
