Inset: Leo’oolo Tevaseu (North Las Vegas Police Department). Background: The residential street near where Tevaseu killed his niece in North Las Vegas, Nev. (Google Maps).
A Nevada resident has been sentenced to a minimum of ten years in prison for the tragic killing of his young niece, whom he suffocated with his hands.
Leo’oolo Tevaseu, aged 23, confessed in January to committing second-degree murder in the death of his 2-year-old niece, Fofogafeta Maluia Fields, which occurred in April 2024.
Recently, Judge Tierra Jones of the Eighth Judicial District Court validated the plea agreement, sentencing Tevaseu to a prison term ranging from 10 to 25 years.
The fatal incident took place on April 18, 2024, in an apartment located on Mercury Street in North Las Vegas, a major suburb just north of Las Vegas.
At approximately 11 a.m. that day, officers from the North Las Vegas Police Department were dispatched to the residence following a report about a small child, 31 months old, who was unresponsive, as detailed by Fox affiliate KVVU based in Henderson.
Emergency personnel discovered the girl without a heartbeat, lying on a dining room table. She was swiftly transported to University Medical Center Hospital for urgent care, but sadly, she was declared dead upon arrival.
Detectives took over the case after the child died and quickly identified Tevaseu as a suspect. He was initially arrested and booked on charges of open murder and child abuse resulting in substantial bodily harm.
As the investigation moved forward, the defendant would admit to his culpability, while offering various narratives of the violence, according to an arrest report obtained by Las Vegas CBS affiliate KLAS.
Tevaseu first told detectives he was babysitting his sister’s children while the woman was at the Department of Motor Vehicles when the little girl “all of a sudden collapsed” and he could not get her to respond, according to the charging document.
The killer added that he did not see the child put anything in her mouth and that he was not aware of the girl’s medical history.
At this point, the defendant claimed to have called the girl’s mother and told her what happened. The girl’s mother then told Tevaseu to put Fofogafeta on the table and begin CPR.
As it turned out, Tevaseu did, in fact, call the woman — after she left the DMV and was headed to the store — and tell her a story to that effect. The tale about the child falling down, however, was all subterfuge to cover up the truth, according to law enforcement.
Another iteration of the story came when Tevaseu said the girl was “sick, but not that sick” and “swaying” — causing her to fall. Investigators contested this version with the defendant directly, noting several injuries not consistent with a fall alone.
Then, Tevaseu said he “slapped” Fofogafeta in the leg and face before hitting her with a pillow, causing her to fall down.
Still, this version did not explain the child’s death.
Finally, the since-condemned man admitted the toddler would not stop crying, so he slapped her in the face and then hit her with a pillow. After that, he said, he picked up Fofogafeta, held her like a baby, and then used his hand to cover her mouth for “about 30 seconds” until she was “huffing and puffing.”
Next, the defendant said, he put the girl on the ground, realized she was not breathing, tried to give her water, and then began CPR. After 5 or 10 minutes of such efforts, Tevaseu called the girl’s mother.
The girl’s mother would go on to tell police the toddler did not have any medical problems and was generally healthy at the time she died. The woman explained that Tevaseu, her younger brother, was her primary source of child care while she worked the night shift and that he “sometimes gets frustrated with the girls.”
