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A Las Vegas woman whose son was found dead in a freezer Tuesday says she endured months of abuse from her boyfriend, who has been arrested and charged with the boy’s death.
Las Vegas police officers arrested Brandon Lee Toseland, 35, after the woman secretly instructed her daughter to pass a note detailing the abuse to her teacher, who then forwarded it to law enforcement. The note also explained the woman had not been allowed to see her 4-year-old son whom she last saw in Dec., before his body was found.
LAS VEGAS BOY FOUND DEAD IN FREEZER, MOTHER’S BOYFRIEND ARRESTED: POLICE
Stephen Stubbs, a lawyer representing the woman, whose name Fox News Digital will not share as she is a victim of sexual abuse, said she endured months of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and was told by Toseland that he would kill her son and her 7-year-old daughter if she ever left him.
Brandon Toseland, a suspect in the death of a child, appears in court, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022, at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
“There was never a time when her daughter was with her that she was not locked in a room, bound or handcuffed,” Stubbs said of the woman. “There was never an opportunity to take her daughter and run.”
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The attorney said the children were also abused in the home.
Brandon Toseland, a suspect in the death of a child, appears in court, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022, at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas.
(Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
“The mother was physically, sexually and emotionally abused,” Stubbs said. “The children were physically and emotionally abused and separated from their mother most of the time.”
According to an arrest report, Toseland said he shared with the mother that the boy was dead “and said she would not be allowed to see his body because he would lose his freedom,” but did not previously share the information with law enforcement or call an ambulance.
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This Clark County Detention Center booking photo shows Brandon Lee Toseland, 35, of Las Vegas, following his arrest Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, on murder and kidnapping charges.
(Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP)
The attorney said the woman met Toseland through her deceased husband, the father of her children, who died in January 2021. Two months later, she and her children moved in with Toseland, who “slowly and methodically” dominated the home.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
