Dna Match Links Homicide Suspect To 10-Year-Old Girl

Posted: Dec. 31, 2012 | 11:41 a.m. Updated: Dec. 31, 2012 | 12:26 p.m.

The blood of 10-year-old Jade Morris is a positive DNA match to blood on a jumpsuit worn by Brenda Jean Stokes, the 50-year-old expected to be officially charged this week in the child's homicide, according to police.

A Las Vegas police report released Monday paints a clearer picture of the events that lead to Jade's death on Dec. 21. She died from multiple stab wounds. Her body was found Thursday in an unfinished housing development in North Las Vegas.

Police say Stokes used a red 2007 Saab, borrowed from her friend Eddie Turner, to kidnap and transport the girl.

Turner told investigators that on Dec. 21, the day Jade disappeared, Stokes returned the car, but borrowed it again to go to her apartment on Windmill Lane to change her clothes.

Later on that evening, Turner told investigators she dropped off Stokes at The Cosmopolitan on Las Vegas Boulevard, where Stokes said she planned to meet a friend, according to the report.

Instead, Stokes went to the Bellagio, and used a pair of razor blades to slice the face of Joyce Rhone, 44, a blackjack dealer.

Jade's family believes Rhone and Stokes' fiance, Jade's father Philip Morris, were having a fling that lead to the attack. Police have neither confirmed or denied that allegation.

After Stokes' arrest, she told responding officers she regretted not having killed Rhone, who suffered serious cuts to her face, enough to cause "disfigurement," according to the report.

While held on assault and battery charges in the Clark County Detention Center, investigators questioned Stokes on the girl's disappearance. She denied knowing Jade or her family.

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Dna Match Links Homicide Suspect To 10-Year-Old Girl