JADE MORRIS - 10 yo/ Accused: Father's girlfriend; Brenda Stokes - Las Vegas NV

Las Vegas police search for girl, 10, missing since last week


Police in Las Vegas are searching for a 10-year-old girl who has been missing since last week.

Jade Morris was last seen on Friday in Las Vegas near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Alta Drive. She was wearing blue jeans, a blue shirt and a long brown jacket, Officer Laura Meltzer told FoxNews.com.

“They’re interviewing everybody who may have knowledge of her whereabouts and trying to find her and bring her home,” Meltzer said.

Morris — who was described as a black girl about 5 feet tall and weighing 70 pounds — was last seen in the custody of Brenda Stokes, who was driving a red 2007 four-door Saab, Meltzer said.

Stokes, 50, is reportedly a friend of the girl's family and may have some relationship with her father. Stokes was arrested Friday after she allegedly slashed the face of a blackjack dealer in the Bellagio hotel-casino and remains jailed, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.

Anyone with information on Morris’ whereabouts is asking to contact Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at (702) 828-2907.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/26/las-vegas-police-search-for-girl-10-missing-since-last-week/#ixzz2GGFC2Feg

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/26/las-vegas-police-search-for-girl-10-missing-since-last-week/#ixzz2GGF65NZs

Jade Morris' Father Removed From Vegas Courtroom In Missing Girl Case

Jade Morris was last seen Friday, getting into a red, 2007 four-door Saab with her father's fiancee, 50-year-old Brenda Stokes, also known as Brenda Wilson.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — An outburst by the father of a missing 10-year-old girl marred the first court hearing for a casino card dealer accused of using razor blades to slash a co-worker's face at a blackjack table at an upscale Las Vegas Strip resort.

Jade Morris' father, shouting "Where's my baby at?" interrupted the initial appearance for Bellagio employee Brenda Stokes before an armed Las Vegas Justice Court bailiff ushered him into the hallway, KTNV-TV 13 News reported.

The girl was last seen by her family at about 5 p.m. Friday in the custody of Stokes, 50, who also goes by the names Brenda Stokes Wilson and Brenda Jean Stokes. KTNV-TV reported Stokes was engaged to the child's father.

She was supposed to have taken the girl shopping, police said.

According to investigators, at about 9:30 p.m. Friday, Stokes wielded a razor blade in each hand as she attacked a female co-worker and former friend at a blackjack table at the Bellagio.

Joyce Rhone, 44, was working at the time. She was hospitalized with deep cuts on her face, including one from her ear to the edge of her mouth, according to a police arrest report. Rhone also had several smaller cuts around her right eye, the police report said.

Police say casino video showed Stokes attacking Rhone before a casino patron and security officers intervened. Officer Marcus Martin said the video is evidence that may be shown by prosecutors in court but will not be made public by police.

Stokes was arrested and is being held at the Clark County jail on felony battery with a weapon, burglary and mayhem charges.

Police said Stokes later told investigators that she attacked Rhone over harassing phone calls and an unspecified betrayal that ended their seven-year friendship.

Stokes also told police she visited her doctor last week, seeking to be admitted to a hospital "due to feeling like she wanted to hurt someone."

She is reported to have told investigators she wasn't taking a prescription anti-anxiety drug, and that, "Sometimes people just snap."

• 
  
  
  
  
  Jade Morris was last seen on Friday in Las Vegas near
  Martin Luther King Boulevard and Alta Drive. She was wearing blue jeans,
  a blue shirt and a long brown jacket, police said. (Las Vegas Metro
  Police)
  
  
  

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/26/las-vegas-police-search-for-girl-10-missing-since-last-week/#ixzz2GINwqqfL

Jade Morris, Child Missing After Casino Stabbing, Found Dead

The body of 10-year-old Jade Morris was found in a Nevada desert on Thursday, according to family members.

The discovery was made by a man walking his dog near an unfinished housing development in the northern stretches of the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas Metro Police said.

Family members told the Black and Missing Foundation that they visually identified the remains for police, who have not yet released a statement positively identifying the body.

"We are heartbroken today. It has been confirmed by family members that the body of ... Jade Morris has been found. We pray for her family," Natalie Wilson, co-founder of the organization, told The Huffington Post.

Wilson said the family wasn't told the cause of death.

Jade was last seen Friday by family members, when she got into a red, 2007 four-door Saab with her father's fiancee, 50-year-old Brenda Stokes, also known as Brenda Wilson. Jade's father was out of town at the time.

"Jade went shopping with [Stokes] at about 4:50 p.m., but by 9 p.m. they had not returned," Morris' godmother, Ni'cola Mitchell, told HuffPost on Wed.

When Stokes failed to return with Jade, the little girl’s mother contacted police and reported her missing. The girl's mother then learned Stokes had been arrested at the Bellagio casino, following a violent altercation with another woman.

According to the Las Vegas Police Department, Stokes was arrested at about 10 p.m. Friday, accused of slashing the face of friend and co-worker Joyce Rhone, 44, several times with "an edged blade." Rhone was admitted to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center with deep lacerations to her face, police said.

Stokes told police she would have killed Rhone if casino security had not intervened.

"Hell, yeah," Stokes told investigators, according to a police report obtained by the Las Vegas Review Journal. "I would have whooped that ass. I would have killed her. I should have killed her."

Stokes was charged with battery with a deadly weapon, battery with use of a deadly weapon with substantial bodily harm and mayhem.

Jade Morris' father interrupted Stokes first court appearance Wednesday, shouting "Where's my baby at?" A Las Vegas Justice Court bailiff ushered him out of the court proceeding.

Stokes was held at the Clark County jail. She has not been charged in connection with Jade's death.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/27/jade-morris-found-dead_n_2372706.html

What a beautiful child! Did the police question Stokes, while they had her in custody, about where Jade was? Wouldn't she have been the obvious one to tell of Jade's whereabouts? It just doesn't seem like it should have taken a week to find this child.

Coroner confirms body found in Las Vegas parking lot is missing girl, 10, as her blood is found in suspect's car

• Coroner confirms DNA evidence found in suspects car
  
  
• Police call murder 'unfathomable'
  
  
• Jade Morris was last seen on December 21 with Brenda Stokes
  
  
• Stokes allegedly slashed a fellow blackjack dealer on same day
  

By Hayley Dixon and Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 16:44 EST, 28 December 2012 | UPDATED: 08:40 EST, 29 December 2012




Suspect:
Brenda Stokes Wilson is accused of slashing a Bellagio blackjack dealer
and is suspected of kidnapping and slaying 10-year-old Jade Morris

The
weeklong search for a Las Vegas girl ended Friday afternoon when
officials confirmed that a small body found in an undeveloped housing
tract belonged to the missing child.

The Clark County coroner's
office said a body discovered Thursday belongs to 10-year-old Jade
Morris, who police had been searching for since Christmas Day.

She died of multiple stab wounds, the coroner's office said.

Blood
was found inside a car borrowed by a Las Vegas card dealer last seen
with a missing 10-year-old girl and later arrested in the razor blade
slashing of a co-worker, a prosecutor said Friday.

Brenda Stokes
Wilson was identified in court Friday as the prime suspect in the
slaying, although prosecutor Robert Daskas told a judge that authorities
haven't positively identified the girl found dead Thursday in an
undeveloped housing tract in North Las Vegas.

‘It's no secret the
defendant is the suspect in the murder of 10-year-old Jade Morris,’
Daskas said as he convinced Senior Clark County District Court Judge
Joseph Bonaventure to increase Wilson's bail from $60,000 to $600,000
pending the filing of kidnapping and murder charges.

Daskas said a weapon was used in the slaying, but he didn't elaborate.

'As
soon as we get all the evidence in that we need, we'll book her on the
murder charges,' Las Vegas police homicide Capt. Chris Jones said.

Jones called the slaying 'unfathomable.'

'Even
having our jobs, we still can't wrap our heads around this,' he said.
'A lot of people think that just because of our positions we can
understand it, but we can't.'






Gruesome
discovery: Police discovered blood inside a car borrowed by Wilson,
left, which belonged to Jade Morris, 10, who was last seen when she was
taken Christmas shopping by the suspect

The girl was last seen by her family December 21, when Wilson picked her up to go Christmas shopping. She never returned.

Wilson,
50, was arrested later that night after she was wrestled to the ground
with razors in each hand following a face-slashing attack on a female
co-worker, Joyce Rhone, at the Bellagio resort.

Wilson has been
jailed on felony battery with a weapon, burglary and mayhem charges that
could get her decades in prison. Police said she has offered no help in
the search for the missing girl.

Murder and kidnapping charges could get her life in prison without parole or the death penalty.
Wilson
stood in court flanked by eight police officers as her lawyer, Tony
Liker, clutching a Bible and a copy of the charging documents, asked the
judge to postpone arraignment until Wednesday to give him time to meet
with Wilson.
Police went public with the search for Jade Morris on
Christmas Day, and the case received increasing attention after the
relationship between the girl and Wilson became known.

Clark
County District Attorney Steve Wolfson watched the proceedings in court
Friday and called the case important for the community.



Justice: A judge agreed to increase Wilson's bail from $60,000 to $600,000 pending the filing of kidnapping and murder charges

Wilson,
who had been identified by police and prosecutors as Brenda Stokes,
told the judge Friday that her full name was Brenda Stokes Wilson.

She
used to date the missing girl's father, Philip Morris, and had a long
and trusted relationship with Jade Morris, according to the missing
girl's grandfather, Philip Tucker.

Philip Morris was removed from
court Wednesday by armed court officers after shouting questions about
his daughter's whereabouts to Wilson. He did not attend Friday's
hearing.

Tucker said Philip Morris lived in Billings, Montana,
and worked at a Flying J truck stop for more than a year. He would stay
with Wilson when he visited Las Vegas, Tucker said.

Tucker said Rhone was Wilson's best friend and also knew Philip Morris.



Heartbroken:
Claudette Flanagan-Jones, left, Jade Morris' grandmother, Tejuana
Reeves-Morris, Jade's mother, and Andres Mack, Jade's grandfather, sit
while Brenda Stokes Wilson appears at court

Authorities have not
disclosed a motive for the slaying. But Tucker said Wilson appeared to
believe that Rhone and Philip Morris had become romantically involved.
Tucker said he didn't know if Wilson's jealousy was well-founded.

'But
whatever was going on with them didn't concern Jade,' Tucker said. 'How
do you take a kid who loves you so much and hurt her?'


Jade
Morris has been missing for a week after family friend Brenda Stokes
offered to take her Christmas shopping. The pair never returned.


That
night Stokes allegedly slashed a co-worker in the face with razor blade
at the famed Bellagio resort on the Las Vegas strip.




Emotional
scene: Brenda Morris, center, 10-year-old Jade Morris' grandmother,
cries and hugs Jade's other grandmother, Claudette Flanagan-Jones, left,
outside the courtroom

Jade's family last saw her at about 5pm on December 21, when Stokes picked her up for a shopping outing, police said.

Police
said Stokes was a trusted friend of the girl's father, and family
members have told reporters that the two dated for several years.

Stokes was arrested later that night after she was accused of slashing her co-worker.

Stokes,
50, is now in jail, and Capt. Jones said she has not cooperated in the
investigation of the girl's whereabouts. She even denied collecting the
girl from her home.

A passer-by called 911 about noon Thursday,
and North Las Vegas police found a girl's body in brush near palm trees
in a small traffic circle near Dorrell Lane and North Fifth Street.


Blackjack dealer Brenda Stokes, 50, was arrested for allegedly slashing a colleagues the same night Jade went missing

The
location is a short distance from the northern 215 Beltway and about 10
miles from the downtown Las Vegas outlet mall off Interstate 15 where
Stokes was to have taken the girl shopping.

Attempts to reach family members have been unsuccessful.

Stokes
had picked up the girl to take her shopping and two hours later
returned to another friend the red 2007 Saab sedan that she borrowed for
the trip, Capt Jones said.



Daskas said police have the
vehicle and are testing blood found on the driver's door and steering
wheel to see if it matches Jade Morris. Stokes later got a ride with a
friend to the Bellagio, police said.

Later, Stokes got a lift
with a friend to the luxury hotel famed for its elaborate fountain
displays, where she was arrested after authorities say she attacked a
female co-worker, Joyce Rhone, with a razor in each hand as Rhone dealt
blackjack about 9:30 p.m.

Rhone, 44, was hospitalized with deep
cuts on her face, including one from her ear to the edge of her mouth. A
police arrest report said Rhone also had several smaller cuts around
her right eye.

The arrest report says casino video shows Stokes attacking Rhone before a casino patron and security officers intervene.


Officer
Marcus Martin said the video is evidence that may be shown by
prosecutors in court but will not be made public by police.

Police
said Stokes later told investigators that she attacked Rhone over
harassing phone calls and an unspecified betrayal that ended their
seven-year friendship.



The
slashing attack is said to have happened at the Bellagio Hotel and
Casino on the Las Vegas strip. The luxury hotel is famed for its
elaborate fountain displays, pictured

Stokes also told police she
visited her doctor last week, seeking to be admitted to a hospital 'due
to feeling like she wanted to hurt someone'.

When the family
heard that Stokes had been arrested in a vicious knife attack on a
fellow card dealer on the casino floor of the Bellagio, they grew
concerned for their daughter's well-being.

The girl's father, Philip Morris, who is reportedly engaged to Stokes, had said just days ago he was sure Jade was still alive.

It
is unknown how many of the Bellagio's 4,000 guests saw the fight, which
occurred in the crowded casino at around 9.45pm, but it came just a
week after many witnessed a murder-suicide in a busy hotel lobby on the
Las Vegas strip.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254415/Coroner-confirms-body-Las-Vegas-parking-lot-missing-girl-10-blood-suspects-car.html#ixzz2GS71W3gH

Mother: 10-Year-Old Daughter Stabbed 40 Times

Posted: Jan 03, 2013 6:37 PM CST
Updated: Jan 04, 2013 5:42 AM CST
By Nicole Lucht, Online Reporter/Editor - email
By Joe Bartels, Reporter - email
By Jay Cruz, Photojournalist - email



LAS VEGAS -- The mother of the 10-year-old girl who was found dead last week said her daughter was stabbed 40 times.

Tejuana Reeves-Morris, the mother of Jade Morris, spoke with reporters as she picked up her daughter's belongings from the Clark County Coroner's Office.

Among the items Reeves-Morris retrieved Thursday was a young girl's watch and a candy cane Jade had gotten from school.

The brutal details surrounding her death are almost too much to comprehend according to Jade's mother.

"She stabbed her over 40 times, it's ridiculous," Reeves said. "I know everybody was looking forward to viewing her and saying goodbye, but that can't happen. There will be a slide show and showing pictures of when she was happy."

A victim's advocate group called Safe Faith United has decided to help the family by auctioning off a coat that was given to them by a private donor. The goal is to raise $5,000 to cover expenses.

"It means the world to me and everything that everybody's done for me," Reeves said. "The community has been amazing and I can't believe how much support I've gotten."

The on-again, off-again girlfriend of Jade's father, Brenda Stokes, has been arrested and charged in the girl's murder.

http://www.8newsnow.com/story/20499248/mother-10-year-old-daughter-stabbed-40-times

Jade Morris stabbing suspect, Brenda Stokes Wilson, charged with murder in death of Vegas girl, 10

January 2, 2013 2:35 PM

(AP) LAS VEGAS - Prosecutors brought a murder charge against a 50-year-old woman accused of stabbing a young girl to death in an undeveloped Las Vegas-area housing tract and later slashing a casino co-worker while that woman dealt blackjack at a Las Vegas Strip resort.

Brenda Stokes Wilson's lawyer, Tony Liker, told a judge Wednesday that Stokes Wilson will plead not guilty to all six charges now pending against her in the Dec. 21 death of 10-year-old Jade Morris and the attack on 44-year-old Joyce Rhone at the Bellagio.

A judge set an evidence hearing for March 28 and ordered Wilson held without bail.

Prosecutor Robert Daskas says DNA tests found the girl's blood on clothing Stokes Wilson wore that day, and in the car Stokes Wilson borrowed to take the girl Christmas shopping.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57561659-504083/jade-morris-stabbing-suspect-brenda-stokes-wilson-charged-with-murder-in-death-of-vegas-girl-10/

Community Remembers Jade Morris

Posted: Jan 09, 2013 4:54 PM CST
Updated: Jan 09, 2013 6:26 PM CST
By Tedd Florendo, Weather Anchor - bio | email
By Jay Cruz, Photojournalist - email

NORTH LAS VEGAS -- Jade Morris' life was cut short when she was stabbed to death last month. On Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of people gathered at a local church to remember the 10-year-old and celebrate her life.

People who personally knew Jade Morris, and those who didn't, gathered at a church on Simmons Street and Lake Mead Boulevard for the young girl's memorial. Singing and dancing welcomed the crowd.

Jade Morris' grandfather said he held the memorial because he wanted people to know about his granddaughter and celebrate the 10 years she was alive.

Morris was found dead in an undeveloped housing tract one week after she disappeared on Dec. 21, 2012. Her accused killer is her father's on-again, and off-again girlfriend.

Harold Robertson, a retired police officer, never met Jade Morris but said he felt compelled to attend the memorial.

"I do not know her, or the family, or friends," he said.

Robertson had worked as an officer in Honolulu, Hawaii. He said, there was a case involving a young girl, like Jade, who was killed.

"It kind of touched my heart," he said.

Robertson clapped and sang as the crowd reflected on Jade's life. He said this memorial was closure for some of the crimes he covered.

Jade's grandfather, Phil Tucker, was overwhelmed by the community support. He said people offer hugs and support daily.

"They don't have to say nothing. They could just say, there's the guy who lost his granddaughter, but they don't," Tucker said. "They just feel obligated to shake my hand or give me a hug."

Jade's ashes were placed in an urn at the front of the church during the memorial. Her grandfather said she would have been pleased with the turnout.

http://www.8newsnow.com/story/20547184/community-remembers-slain-10-year-old