Report says Las Vegas mother admitted kicking son before his death

In the week following her 1-year-old son’s death, Elizabeth Castillo routinely denied that the boy had suffered any injuries while under her care — until she took a polygraph test.

According to her Las Vegas arrest report, the 24-year-old woman admitted last week to a polygraph examiner that “she kicked Sebastian in the stomach” while they were sleeping in the same bed on Sept. 27.

The boy, identified by the Clark County coroner’s office as Sebastian Solorio, died three days later while staying with his father, whose name is redacted in the report. The two shared custody of the boy.

“She told Det. Hanson she has a lot of guilt due to not doing more to help Sebastian,” the report states, “but stated something to the effect of not realizing something so small could turn out so big.”

Yet soon after the boy’s death, the report shows, Castillo had shown interest in cremating her son and asked Las Vegas detectives “about the potential of evidence being destroyed,” according to the report. Police noted that the “odd” question was unprovoked.

While Sebastian’s parents were trying to plan his funeral service, police also learned that “Elizabeth asked the planner if she could push the button to cremate Sebastian.”

As of Tuesday, Sebastian’s official cause and manner of death had not been released by the coroner’s office. But according to the report, the doctor who performed his autopsy told police that blunt force trauma to the abdomen likely killed the boy.

During the autopsy, the doctor discovered a laceration to his small intestine and peritonitis, or inflammation in the lining of his abdomen, the report states. The doctor also noted minor bruising on Sebastian’s body.

According to a Department of Family Services document, Sebastian’s family has a history with Child Protective Services in Clark County dating to at least February 2013, before he was born. Between 2013 and this year, the agency had received three reports of abuse or neglect. All three cases were found to be unsubstantiated, the document shows.

The most recent report of abuse came in August, according to the same document, about a month before Sebastian died. Details of the alleged abuse in that case were not disclosed in the document.

After her polygraph test last week, Castillo was arrested on a child abuse charge in connection with Sebastian’s death and booked into the Clark County Detention Center. Jail records show she remains in custody on $1 million bail as she awaits her preliminary hearing in Las Vegas Justice Court on Oct. 28.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.