Woman sentenced to life in prison for strangling 7-year-old son

It’s been more than a year since 7-year-old Liam Husted was killed by his mother, and the boy’s father still can’t bring himself to remove the last traces of his child from his car.

“My window in my truck still has his tiny fingerprints behind his seat. My pain is too much to wash it,” Nicholas Husted said Thursday during a sentencing hearing for the boy’s mother, 36-year-old Samantha Moreno Rodriguez.

After Husted’s emotional statement, District Judge Michelle Leavitt sentenced Rodriguez to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 28 years.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty in September to felony counts of murder and child abuse, neglect or endangerment resulting in substantial bodily harm in the death of her son. She agreed to the sentence issued by Leavitt on Thursday as part of the plea deal.

Liam’s abandoned body was found on May 28, 2021, near the Mountain Springs Trailhead off the highway between Las Vegas and Pahrump. He had been left naked with no other evidence pointing to his identity. Officials initially referred to him as John “Little Zion” Doe while investigators fielded hundred of tips from across the country to identify him.

After her arrest, Rodriguez told police that while hiking, she became frustrated with her son, who had autism spectrum disorder and minimal verbal skills. He wasn’t listening to Rodriguez, and she shoved him, causing him to fall and hit his head, according to grand jury transcripts.

The boy started screaming “louder than she had ever heard him scream before,” a detective testified to a grand jury last year. Rodriguez strangled him for 10 to 15 minutes before he stopped crying.

Husted told police that Rodriguez had taken Liam and left their apartment in San Jose, California, days before the boy’s death. She drove “somewhat aimlessly” to Southern California in search of more affordable housing until she ended up in Las Vegas on May 26, according to grand jury transcripts.

Police later traced Rodriguez to a hotel in Denver, where she was arrested less than two weeks after Liam’s body was found.

During the sentencing hearing Thursday, Husted said his son’s death “did not have to happen.” He said Rodriguez’s actions were “careless and self-centered.”

“Why didn’t she call me for help?” he asked, reading from a written statement. “How could she just strangle him and leave his lifeless, naked body in the desert? These thoughts will forever be in my head.”

Husted declined to comment following the hearing.

Rodriguez turned away from Husted while he addressed the judge. When Leavitt asked if she would like to make a statement, she shook her head.

Ryan Bashor, Rodriguez’s public defender, said the woman has taken responsibility for her actions and has “a lot of self-loathing.”

“This is an extremely tragic situation,” he said during the hearing.

Husted told the judge that he is still mourning the loss of a future he could have had with his only child, including the chance to watch Liam grow up and have kids of his own.

During a vigil shortly after Liam’s death, Husted said his son was brilliant and always kept him on his toes. He learned to swim at age 2 and loved to help his dad cook and bake by cracking eggs and chopping vegetables.

The name “Liam” means “strong-willed, determined warrior and guardian,” Husted told the judge on Thursday.

“I believe Liam is all these things,” Husted said. “He was strong and determined to fight until his last breath.”

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.