Mason Dominguez via GoFundMe
A Las Vegas man is behind bars this week after he allegedly kidnapped his girlfriend and her two children, and murdered her 4-year-old son before hiding the little boy’s body inside a freezer in the garage.
Brandon Toseland, 35, was arrested after the woman’s young daughter delivered a note to her elementary school teacher saying she was being held against her will, police said.
Toseland was initially taken into custody Tuesday and charged with two counts of first-degree kidnapping, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show. An open murder charge was added Wednesday after the boy’s remains were discovered.
Officers with the Clark County School District Police Department at approximately 8:39 a.m. contacted officers with the Las Vegas Metro Police Department concerning a young student who arrived at school with an alarming note for her teacher, authorities said in a press release. The note was from the girl’s mother and reportedly stated that she was being “held against her will” at a home located in the 4300 block of Saddle Brook Park Drive, approximately 10 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip. The note also stated that the mother did not know the whereabouts of her son, described as a “toddler,” adding that she believed the child was “possibly deceased,” police said.
Police set up a surveillance team operation near the address within an hour and waited for movement, Las Vegas CBS affiliate KLAS-TV reported. At approximately 10 a.m., authorities reportedly saw a male adult, later identified as Toseland, and female adult exit the home, get in a car, and drive away from the property. Police conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle and questioned the woman about the note.
Brandon Toseland, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
Per KLAS, the woman reportedly told police that Toseland was her live-in boyfriend but said he had become physically abusive and been keeping her against her will for weeks. She also reportedly said that she had not seen her preschool-aged son in several weeks and that Toseland would not allow her to leave the house alone or enter certain parts of the home, specifically, the garage.
Police obtained and executed a search warrant on the home at approximately 4:30 p.m., Las Vegas Fox affiliate KVVU-TV reported. Upon entering the residence, police say the located the young boy’s remains in a freezer kept in the garage.
Police said that the victim’s identification as well as the manner and cause of his death are not being released until the Clark County Coroner’s Office conducts a scheduled autopsy.
Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Ray Spencer said that investigators believe the child had been dead since “early December,” according to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Toseland was arrested and processed at the Clark County Detention Center. He appeared before a judge Wednesday morning where a judge ordered him to remain in detention without bond and scheduled a status hearing for Feb. 28.
An online obituary and fundraiser posted by the family identified the victim as 4-year-old Mason Dominguez, and described the boy as “happy, sweet, intelligent, and very out-going!” The family is hoping to raise enough money to pay for the funeral and purchase a burial plot next to his father, Elijah Dominguez, who died of pneumonia early last year, per the Review-Journal. Donations can be made via this link.
[image via GoFundMe, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department]