Mother Arrested In Denver After Abandoning 7-Year-Old Child's Corpse In Las Vegas Hiking Trail

A mother from California accused of murdering her 7-year-old son has been arrested on Tuesday after fleeing the state where her child was left dead, police said.

Samantha Moreno Rodriguez, 35, the primary suspect in the heinous murder of her young son, has been taken into custody in Denver and will be booked pending extradition to Las Vegas, the ABC News noted.

The body of Rodriquez’s son, Liam Husted, 7, was found by a hiker on May 28 near State Route 160 in Mountain Springs, Nevada.

In a press conference on Monday, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Lieutenant Ray Spencer said that Rodriguez and Liam were last seen in San Jose on May 24 driving in a dark blue 2008 Dodge Caliber hatchback. Highway CCTV footage was able to spot the vehicle on May 26 in Laguna Beach in the morning and in Victorville, California in the afternoon.

A manhunt for Rodriguez was launched after Liam's father reported on June 1 that he had lost contact with his son after reading a disturbing message from his estranged wife.

The father reportedly came home on May 24 with Rodriguez’s and Husted’s belongings gone. He would later find a worrying note seemingly written by the distraught mother saying, “I’m sorry, I had to do this.”

The letter also noted that “she was going to try to get a house for her and Liam and that they could talk in the future,” KTNV Las Vegas reported. The parent did not immediately alert the police and intend to file charges as he did not believe his son was in any direct danger.

The father was finally urged to approach law enforcement as Rodriguez turned incommunicado in late May as a friend of the family noticed Liam's resemblance to a police sketch circulated by Las Vegas authorities of an unidentified child discovered at a remote area in Nevada.

The patriarch has been ruled out by authorities as a suspect in the case. The San Jose Police Department reviewed and analyzed the note Rodriguez left for the child’s father, but they did not see any intention of foul play.

Fox News reported that a concerned colleague of the family had recognized the composite sketches released to the media and informed San Jose Police that the boy might be young Liam Husted, as she had not seen him in over two weeks at the time.

"It is a complete tragedy, and Liam will be very missed," Chris Husted, Liam’s grandfather, told Fox5. "My [other] son is very distraught by the news. Liam was a special needs child, at a disadvantage, and dependent on others' kindness. Unfortunately, his mother took that away."