Las Vegas, NV (AP) — Police appealed again Tuesday to teachers, grandparents, relatives and adults who work with children to identify a slain boy whose body was found by hikers near a highway between Las Vegas and rural Pahrump.
Las Vegas Metro police homicide Lt. Ray Spencer said investigators have checked hundreds of tips in states including California, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Nebraska and Iowa since the body was discovered about 7 a.m. Friday. None proved fruitful.
Spencer said investigators think the boy was between the ages of 8 and 12, and was from somewhere in southern Nevada.
“We’re going door-to-door on every tip,” Spencer said. “We’re not ruling anything out. But we’re thinking he was from Clark County or Nye County.”
The death was clearly a homicide, Spencer said, but he declined to provide details or say how the boy was dressed.
At 4-foot-11-inches and about 125 pounds, he may have been big for his age, Spencer said.
The body was found in the Mountain Springs area — hidden behind a bush off a trail along State Route 160, between Las Vegas and Pahrump.
Spencer said investigators are confident it had been left after dark on Thursday.