During a court hearing, a judge decided that a father from Nevada, Nicholas Loving, would be held on a $10 million bond because state regulations did not allow her to set no bond for his charge of child abuse causing substantial bodily harm in connection with the death of his 5-year-old daughter.
Should Nicholas Loving be able to pay the bail, Washoe County Judge Kendra Bertschy stated that he would have to remain in his home with an ankle monitor and would be prohibited from contacting his wife and four other children, as reported by KRNV.
The four remaining children are in the custody of Child Protective Services.
Authorities were summoned to the Loving residence last Thursday at 7 a.m., where they discovered Izabella Loving, the 5-year-old daughter, unresponsive in an upstairs room lying beside a small mattress without a bed frame. Reports from CrimeOnline indicated that the little girl had severe injuries on her face, as well as other injuries on her pelvis, hips, and genitals.
Loving reportedly provided officers with varying stories about what happened to the 5-year-old, saying she had been sick for more than a week and had been hit in the face with a bat. He could not explain the other injuries.
The girl’s mother, Andrea Loving, reportedly told investigators that she saw Loving kick her daughter in the genitals and drag her by the hood or collar of her sweatshirt. Five days before her daughter’s death, Loving’s wife reportedly overheard Loving screaming and a thud consistent with a child being thrown.
“I should go to jail for not helping her, and Nick should go to jail for killing her,” she reportedly said.
Andrea Loving has not been charged, but prosecutors said she could be charged as well.
The mother told police that her husband wanted to bury the little girl in the back yard and flee to his parents home in Virginia. When investigators confronted him with that statement, he denied it and said it was the mother’s idea to run.
Court documents reveal that Nicholas Loving was convicted on the same charge he now faces in 2014, stemming from an incident involving his then-girlfriend’s 2 year old son. He served 60 months on probation after his prison term was suspended by Washoe County Judge Elliott Sattler after that case.
The investigation into Izabella Loving’s death is ongoing, according to District Attorney Chris Hicks, who said that charges could be amended or added later, KRNV said.
