A man wanted in the beating death of a 6-year-old boy in South Los Angeles was arrested early Wednesday in North Las Vegas, police said.
Marcas Fisher, 36, was arrested without incident at a residence around 2:30 a.m., according to Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Charlie Beck. Fisher is charged with murdering Dae'von Bailey, who was found dead July 23 at a home in the 800 block of East 87th Place.
Dae'von, who was "found beaten and bludgeoned to death," had been left in Fisher's care by the boy's mother, who is Fisher's ex-girlfriend, Beck said.
The deputy chief noted that police used "some modern technology, in addition to a lot of good, old-fashioned police work and interviews and surveillance" in locating Fisher, who was named in a warrant charging him with murder and assault on a child causing death.
He noted that police received a number of tips that led investigators to locations where Fisher had been, and that the public was "extremely involved" in the case.
The arrest involved members of a multi-agency task force, including Los Angeles police detectives, the U.S. Marshals Service, Department of Justice and members of the North Las Vegas Police Department and Las Vegas Metro Police Department, officials said.
If Fisher agrees to voluntarily be returned from Nevada, he would be brought to Los Angeles on Thursday, according to the deputy chief. Otherwise, he would undergo extradition proceedings.
"These type of crimes hit home to the men and women on the task force," said Tom Hession with the U.S. Marshals Office. "We're fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters, and when you have a young innocent like this taken in the way he was taken, it makes it just that much more important that we get these type of people off the street and keep them off the street."
The county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to move forward with investigations into the deaths of Bailey and two other children, who each apparently were the subject of reports to the Department of Children and Family Services.
"The very thought of a grown person beating a child to death is practically incomprehensible," County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas told reporters Wednesday.
City Councilwoman Jan Perry said people around the city are still talking about the boy's death.
"I just want to remember Dae'von as an innocent and beautiful child, and his tragic death was felt by everyone in the community, felt by all of us," Perry said. "... No child should have to suffer the way that this child did."
The boy's mother, Tylette Davis, told reporters she was relieved to hear of Fisher's arrest.
"I'm happy that he's off the street and I'm just happy and overwhelmed, like I said before," she said. " ... Since he's off the streets, he can't do this to no one else or no other child."
