TayShaun Todd, 20, had attended a house party in June when his mother Christina Todd-Dunn reported him missing to the Metropolitan Police Department. That was after she was informed he was nowhere to be found when the event was stopped by police.
Todd was found dead in a pool situated inside the home the following day, which was on June 18. But her mother, in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, said that her son could have been alive if Metro Police had properly canvassed the home where the party was held after he was reported missing.
The party in question was held at a home in the 2600 block of Palma Vista Avenue. The night before Todd’s body was found, police had gone to the same home after they received a call for service. Hours later, Todd-Dunn contacted Metro to report that her son was missing, and he was at the party when he disappeared.
RELATED STORIES
Todd-Dunn said officers ultimately went to the home to investigate her report hours later, and that she had to repeatedly call and beg authorities for that to actually happen. The responding officers were initially unable to locate her son, with Todd-Dunn saying that her worries about her son’s wellbeing were taken lightly by the department.
“The part that is so upsetting to me is, if the police would have got there and came when I asked them to, they could have gotten him out. He could still be alive right now,” Todd-Dunn said.
Prior to the discovery of his body, Todd-Dunn’s younger son had phoned to tell her that his elder brother was missing. A friend also phoned to say that Todd was nowhere to be found after the police shut down the party. That friend also said it wasn’t possible Todd had left the party.
READ ALSO: Mom reacts after her 2-year-old drowns in backyard pool the day after her wedding
Todd-Dunn also told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Todd’s keys, wallet and phone were with his friend. She subsequently rushed to the home where the party took place and contacted police to ask for assistance.
At the home, she inquired about her son’s whereabouts, and a man told her that he had no idea, as all the attendees were no longer on the premises. Todd-Dunn said Metro had still not responded to the scene hours after the man asked her to leave the home.
She said that police did not conduct a proper search of the home and rather asked her questions about her son’s whereabouts and if he was drinking, hanging out with a girl or doing drugs. Todd-Dunn, however, said that was not her son’s character. She also said that ever since Todd became an adult, that was the second party he had gone to.
“Do you really think I’d be out here in my pajamas looking for him if I thought that was the norm?” Todd-Dunn said. “I could have rolled back over and went to sleep, like, ‘Oh, he’ll turn up.’ But I knew something had to be wrong, because that’s not him.”
She said efforts by her and her son’s friends to locate Todd proved futile. His body was found in the pool the following day, and authorities described Todd’s death as “possible drowning.” Though Metro said that they went to the home the night before to investigate Todd’s whereabouts, they said they were unable to locate him.
Todd-Dunn said she felt like “the police officers failed me.” “They failed my son. Y’all should have done a full search if it was a pool party and I’m saying he didn’t come up out of here. Y’all should have turned the house upside down to find him,” Todd-Dunn added.
