LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The man accused of killing a 2-year-old hit the child several times after the toddler urinated on himself, according to his arrest report first obtained by the I-Team.
Terrell Rhodes, 27, is accused of killing Amari Nicholson, 2. Rhodes then tried to hide the boy’s body, police said. According to police, Amari was left in Rhodes’ care while his mother was out of town last week.
According to the report, Rhodes hit Amari three or four times with his fist early in the morning on May 5 inside an apartment at the Emerald Suits. The child’s face then turned blue and he stopped breathing, according to the report. Rhodes attempted CPR, but Amari died.
Amari’s body was located Wednesday near the 400 block of East Twain Avenue, just south of the long-term stay complex where he last seen.
Rhodes spoke to 8 News Now last week, claiming a woman took Amari while the boy’s mother, Tayler Nicholson, was in Colorado.
According to the police report, Nicholson left for Colorado on April 30. During the trip on May 3, she and Rhodes fought over the phone and “Tayler indicated the relationship was over,” according to the report. On May 5, Rhodes told Tayler an unidentified woman had picked Amari up from the apartment.
Tayler called 911 form Colorado on May 5 to report what she thought at the time was a kidnapping, the report said. She returned to Las Vegas that same day.
Police searched homes in Las Vegas, Reno and southern California, but found no traces of Amari, they wrote in the report.
Last Thursday during a search of the apartment, police said they found a blood sample on a wall. After undergoing a polygraph test on Tuesday, police said Terrell admitted to killing Amari.
Sources told the I-Team within the past year, there was at least one report made to Child Protective Services (CPS), alleging abuse. The agency looked into the allegation but closed the case without taking further action.
Detectives said Rhodes was their primary suspect while he continued to give his version to 8 News Now.
He faces one count of first-degree murder. A judge denied bail for him Wednesday.
In addition to the murder charge, Rhodes four new charges filed Thursday of resisting a public officer with a firearm and four charges of assault on a protected person with a deadly weapon. He is due in court Friday morning.
