Mom who became ‘hysterical’ while searching for her 2-year-old son is charged with murder after the boy was found in a garbage bin

Jacoby Robinson Jr. was found on June 7 in a dumpster in Las Vegas

Las Vegas Metro Police Department

Jacoby Robinson

The mother of a 2-year-old boy found dead in a trash bin in Las Vegas has been arrested in connection with the case.

Diaja Smith, 23, was arrested after the death of her 2-year-old son, whose body was found in a Las Vegas dumpster in the early morning hours of June 7, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department confirmed in a news release. More than four hours earlier, the boy had been reported missing from his home in Las Vegas.

“On June 7, 2024, at approximately 12:58 p.m., a missing 2-year-old boy was found in a dumpster at 1300 Lewis Avenue. Medical staff who arrived at the scene confirmed the child’s death,” the police said.

Authorities did not provide the child’s name in the statement. He was later identified as Jacoby Robinson Jr. based on a neighbor’s missing persons flyer that was distributed to residents by police during the search and obtained by FOX5.

Jail records show Smith is currently in the Clark County Detention Center on charges of open murder and child abuse.

Additionally, a second suspect, Jacoby Robinson, was arrested in connection with the case and is believed to be the father of the small child. Jail records show Robinson faces two counts of child abuse, but KTNV and 8 News Now, citing comments made by a prosecutor in court, say his charges will be expanded to include murder.

It is unclear whether any of the suspects have made statements or retained lawyers.

Neighbor Kelvyn Barnett, who lives near where the child was found, spoke to WSAZ and recalled seeing Smith in a “hysterical” state while apparently looking for her son around 9 p.m. on June 6.

“I saw this woman sitting there with two other children, she was really hysterical and she was saying, ‘someone took my baby, somebody took my baby,’” Barnett told the outlet. “Finding out that she (allegedly) did it is the most shocking aspect of all of this.”

Barnett also claimed in an interview with FOX5 that Smith told him after her son’s disappearance “that she was at the park and the kid was on the slide and she looked around and the kid was gone.”

The Clark County Coroner’s Office will provide an update on the victim’s cause and manner of death.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453 or visit www.childhelp.org. All calls are free and confidential. The hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in over 170 languages.

For more news from People, sign up to our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.