Warning: The details in this article are graphic in nature.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Two parents are accused of beating their young children for years, covering their injuries with makeup and saying they were “doing God’s work,” before taking one child to the hospital for a broken leg, according to documents obtained by NewsNation affiliate KLAS.
Las Vegas police arrested Kyla Love and Adrian Melcher, both 21, on April 1, records said.
On March 31, Love and Melcher brought two children, a 3-year-old and an 18-month-old, to the hospital after the elder child suffered a leg injury, documents said. The 3-year-old child was also “extremely malnourished and had makeup covering bruises,” police said. The younger child was also “extremely malnourished and underweight” and was covered in bruises.
KLAS is not listing the children’s genders to avoid further identification.
“Once doctors and medical staff observed and treated the children, it was discovered that both children had suffered abusive torment at the hands of their parents for an extensive period of time,” police wrote in court documents. “The injuries to both young children were violent and traumatic and painted a picture of abuse the children had suffered their entire lives.”
Police said while speaking with Love and Melcher, “both confessed to causing the injuries and took responsibility for the abuse,” documents said.
Love allegedly told police the “physical discipline began early in the children’s lives and started with smacking” hands and feet, documents said. That discipline led to “pops to their mouths,” police said.
Last year, the parents allegedly began “using clothes hangers and phone charging cables” to discipline the then-2-year-old and 9-month-old, police said.
“(Love) described how the strikes were necessary to make the infants behave and how they started with light strikes to the arms and legs but led to harder strikes that left marks and welts on their bodies,” police wrote in court documents.
In one incident from February, police said Melcher allegedly hit the 18-month-old child with a charging cord, leaving the child with an “open wound across” the back, documents said.
“Kayla stated the physical abuse to both children occurs on a nearly daily basis for over a year, and she blamed the Bible as their inspiration for using this extreme force of discipline for her infant children,” documents said.
On the day the parents brought the two children to the hospital, Love explained she knew the 3-year-old child’s leg was broken and she and Melcher made a homemade splint. According to police, Love told them they did not take the child to the hospital right away because they “knew they would get in trouble,” documents said. They then went to a convenience store to buy makeup to cover the child’s bruises. The process took seven hours, according to Love, before they went to an urgent care facility, police said.
On the way to urgent care, Love and Melcher reportedly came up with a story that the child had injured themself at Sunset Park, police said. At urgent care, staff informed the couple the child would have to be treated at Sunrise Hospital.
“Once at Sunrise Hospital, Kyla knew they would be in trouble and stated she was ready to accept responsibility for her mistreatment of her infant children,” police said. “When asked about the children’s low weight and malnutrition, she stated she did not have enough food or enough to feed her children and was only able to feed them once a day. She also understood how bad the children looked and asked for forgiveness for her part in their abuse and mistreatment.”
In an interview with police, Melcher reportedly told police he began hitting “(the children) when they were approximately six months old and believed this form of discipline would make them stronger and smarter,” according to court documents.
In one incident last year, Melcher told police he hit one child so hard they vomited and had a seizure, according to police.
In another incident, Melcher told police he made a child stand up against a wall for five minutes, police said.
“Whenever (the child) dropped to the floor, Adrian would strike (the child) on (their) back with a phone cord,” police said. The incident lasted four hours with the cord digging into the child’s skin, documents said.
“When asked why he treated his infant children this way, Adrian stated he was, ‘Doing God’s work’ and that he had to continue to beat them to make them stronger,” documents said. “He also quoted a Bible verse, which he claimed read, ‘Disrespectful children should have their backs beaten.’”
On April 1, police searched Love and Melcher’s apartment near Nellis Boulevard and Vegas Valley Drive, finding it “dirty and unkempt,” documents said.
Love faces 10 felonies, including child abuse or neglect and child abuse or neglect resulting in substantial bodily harm. During her initial court appearance April 1, Judge Andrew Wong set bail at $80,000. Love remained in custody as of Monday.
Melcher also faces 10 felonies. Wong also set his bail at $80,000. He remained in custody as of Monday.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled for April 17.