STRANGER THAN FICTION

Mom Accused of Strangling 7-Year-Old Son in Forest Got Idea to Remove His Clothes From TV

Samantha Moreno Rodriguez allegedly told detectives she thought it might make it harder for police to catch her.

Samantha Moreno Rodriguez told detectives that she removed her 7-year-old son’s clothes after allegedly strangling him to death on a hiking trail so it would be “more difficult to associate him with her,” according to documents obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Rodriguez and her son Liam Husted, who was on the autism spectrum, were hiking on a trail near Las Vegas in May, when the boy stopped listening to her, Metropolitan Police Department homicide Detective Robert Ochsenhirt told the grand jury, according to transcripts. Rodriguez allegedly shoved the boy, causing him to hit his head. When Liam started screaming, Rodriguez strangled him “before he stopped crying and breathing ultimately,” the detective said. That’s when Rodriguez removed his clothes and left his naked body on the trail. After she was arrested, “Samantha indicated that she had watched television crime shows, and thought that by removing his clothing it would make it more difficult to associate him with her after she left the scene,” Ochsenhirt said. The little boy’s body was discovered back in May and was unidentified for over a week before homicide detectives were able to find Rodriguez in a hotel in Denver. The mom is set to appear in court on Wednesday.