Mother pleads guilty to murdering child found outside of Las Vegas in 2021

Las Vegas, Nevada: 36-year-old Samantha Moreno-Rodriguez appeared in court on Thursday, September 1, 2022 and plead guilty to murdering her 7-year-old son Liam Husted whose body was found on a hiking trail outside of Las Vegas on May 28, 2021.

An initial misidentification of the child led to an Amber Alert being issued for another child, believed to be his brother, before it was determined that it was a case of misidentification.

Thursday had been previously scheduled as a pre-trial conference, but instead, she changed her plea from not-guilty to guilty as a part of a plea deal that her attorney worked out with the prosecution.

Moreno-Rodriguez has plead guilty to one count of murder and one count of child abuse, neglect or endangerment resulting in substantial bodily harm.

According to Law and Crime, the terms of the deal include recommending a sentence of 28 years to life with Moreno-Rodriguez being eligible for parole after serving 20 years in prison.

During testimony provided to a grand jury last year, a detective in the case testified that Moreno-Rodriguez had admitted to becoming frustrated with her son while they were hiking and to have shoving him. As a result of the shove, he allegedly fell and hit his head.

The detective went on to say that Liam began screaming "louder than she had ever heard him scream before" and that in response, she was believed to have strangled him for 10-15 minutes before stripping his body and hiding him behind a bush.