Mom admits to drowning 2-year-old in Las Vegas police report

Kiersten Boedicker’s mother told detectives she drowned the 2-year-old girl in a bathtub last weekend because she believed her husband was sexually abusing the child, a claim detectives have found no evidence to support, police said Friday.

Kiersten died May 11 after Las Vegas police found her fully clothed and floating face-up in a bathtub at the Sunset Terrace apartment complex, 2855 N. Walnut Road. Her death was ruled a homicide due to drowning, the Clark County coroner’s office said Friday.

Her mother, Linette Warrichaiet, who is also identified in court records as Linette Boedicker, told detectives she drowned her daughter because she believed Kiersten was being molested, according to her arrest report.

“I held her under,” Warrichaiet told police. “I wanted her to go back to God so he can’t touch her anymore.”

Metropolitan Police Department homicide Lt. Ray Spencer said in a text message Friday night that detectives have found “nothing to substantiate the allegations.” According to the report, Warrichaiet “never witnessed any sexual abuse.”

Warrichaiet has been charged with murder, court records show.

The household had been referred to the Department of Family Services in February for unknown reasons, according to county records. The referral was listed as “information only.”

Police have said Warrichaiet held the girl under the water until she stopped breathing, then called 911 to report that Kiersten had “drowned.”

Warrichaiet ignored a dispatcher’s instructions to pull her daughter out of the water and perform CPR, according to police.

An officer arrived within five minutes of the call, but the woman didn’t open the door for nearly two minutes, homicide Lt. Ray Spencer said May 11.

A neighbor told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he saw an officer crying as he carried a “lifeless” toddler in his arms while leaving the apartment that afternoon.

Warrichaiet told detectives that after her husband left for work, she filled the bathtub with water while Kiersten was taking a nap, then she drowned the 2-year-old, the report said.

After calling 911, Warrichaiet said she pulled Kiersten from the water and attempted CPR, but she placed her back in the water to unlock the door for police, the report said.

Warrichaiet “acknowledged she was responsible for (Kiersten’s) death and told detectives she didn’t care what happens to her because her life was over,” the report said.

Police were called to the same apartment unit just before 5:40 a.m. May 11 for a “domestic disturbance,” but police have not released further details about the incident. Metro spokesman Larry Hadfield said Monday that officers “determined no crime was committed at the time.”

Warrichaiet remained in the Clark County Detention Center on Friday on $1 million bail, jail records show. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

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