Samantha Moreno Rodriguez was taken into custody in Denver by the Denver Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force, which is led by the FBI. She is expected to be booked into a Denver-area jail on one count of open murder, pending extradition to Las Vegas.
Authorities issued a nationwide arrest warrant for Rodriguez, a San Jose resident, on Monday. During a press conference, officials identified the 35-year-old mother as the suspect in her 7-year-old son Liam Husted’s killing.
Liam’s body was recovered May 28. Investigators said Rodriguez and Liam were last seen in San Jose on May 24. On the morning of May 26, they were seen in Laguna Beach and that afternoon in Victorville.
Liam’s body was found two days later in a rural area of Las Vegas behind a bush, at a trailhead, and just off of a main highway, authorities said.
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Many Bay Area residents expressed outraged upon learning of the news Monday.
“You have to be in a different kind of place to do that your own child,” said Louis Armendariz of San Jose.
San Jose Police Department investigators were alerted to the disappearance of both Rodriguez and her son by a family friend who saw coverage of the Las Vegas case, and believed there might be a connection.
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