LAS VEGAS — A couple is facing murder charges after police say their 4-month-old infant was found dead with bruises and a skull fracture.
Lindsey Bello initially called Las Vegas police at 12:43 p.m. on April 1, saying that her infant, Miles Stano III, was not breathing and cold to the touch, police said in an arrest report. Bello told police that she had fed Miles at 6 a.m. and checked on him again at 10 a.m. and he was fine and breathing both times.
According to the arrest report, investigators found Miles had two skull fractures, multiple bruises and abrasions and described him as “emaciated.” The coroner ruled the infant’s death a homicide due to blunt force trauma, according to the report.
In multiple interviews with police, both Lindsey and Miles Stano Jr. — her boyfriend and the child’s father — denied any knowledge of how the infant could have gotten hurt. Both denied any knowledge of the other being violent with the baby, KVVU reported.
In their arrest report, Las Vegas police noted Bello’s odd behavior during an interview with police, saying, “In the initial portion of the interview, Lindsey appeared calm and jovial while laughing and smiling frequently Lindsey and detectives joked about food, getting fat and Starbucks. After speaking for a while, the discussion turned to the murder of her child, Miles III. … Lindsey reiterated that she did not harm her child but would rarely say the child’s name, which is often indicative of a guilty person attempting to distance themselves from the crime.”
In their report, police noted that Lindsey had a muted reaction to seeing her son’s autopsy photos, but was upset when she heard about Miles Jr. being arrested. “His arrest seemed to upset her more than seeing the autopsy photos of her deceased child or finding out she was being arrested for murder.”
Police also spoke to an unidentified witness, who said that she overheard the couple appearing to talk about the child’s death, and saw what appeared to be a grave dug in the couple’s backyard on April 7, KVVU reported.
In the arrest report, detectives said that both Bello and Stano told friends, family and police — as well as published a funeral announcement — saying that Miles III “died from SIDS and a brain aneurysm.”
The medical examiner told investigators that the type of injuries the child sustained would likely have caused immediate death, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The arrest reports list evidence removed from the house as including a wipe, blanket and sweatpants with apparent blood on them.
Records from the Clark County Department of Family Services show that there were four reports of abuse or neglect for the household, KSNV reported.
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