The Las Vegas woman allegedly held captive and abused by her boyfriend reportedly planned for months on a way to rescue her family.
Insider reported that the mother “spent her days handcuffed and restrained” by her boyfriend, 35-year-old Brandon Toseland, who was arrested earlier this week and charged with kidnapping and murder. Family spokesman and attorney Stephen Stubbs told the outlet that the mother, who hasn’t been named by media outlets, spent weeks writing a few words at a time on sticky notes and hiding them in Toseland’s car before she was able to get them to her 7-year-old daughter. The mother reportedly only had one minute a day alone to write the notes. Her daughter gave the notes to a teacher, who notified school police.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, A teacher reported the note to police around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, and Clark County School District Police were alerted to the girl’s note, which said her mother was being held at home against her will and that her 4-year-old little brother was missing. The school police contacted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD), who immediately began an investigation, KSNV reported.
“That note indicated that the mom was being held against her will,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Ray Spencer told reporters, according to NBC News. “She also stated that she did not know the whereabouts of her preschool-aged child.”
Police officers began surveilling the home and “observed a Hispanic male in his late 30s and a female leaving the residence around 10:00 a.m.,” the outlet reported. The pair entered a vehicle and drove away, but were stopped by police a short time later, who detained the man and interviewed the woman.
Toseland is not the father of the two children. The mother told police she hadn’t seen her other child since December 11 and that she had been abused by the man now in police custody, who wouldn’t let her leave the house alone or enter the garage. The woman told police she worried her young son may be dead.
The mother isn’t sure how her son was killed, but told police that Toseland physically abused her and bother her children. She also told police that her young son, Mason, was sick before he was taken from her and her daughter by Toseland.
“She knew he was sick and eventually [Toseland] said that he’s gone, that it was an accident or something to that effect, but he has told her so many different conflicting things about her son that she didn’t know for sure,” Stubbs told Insider.
Insider further reported that the mother met Toseland through her late husband, and after her husband died in January 2021, Toseland began comforting her and the two started dating. Even when the mother and her children moved in with Toseland, things were fine, but slowly began to change.
“Slowly and methodically, he started exercising more and more control and it continually got worse until one day in December she tried to leave a room and the door was locked,” Stubbs told Insider. “She was held captive from then until she was rescued.”
“From the time she was initially locked up or held captive to the time she was rescued, there was never an opportunity when she could escape and flee with her daughter,” Stubbs added.
Toseland’s attorney told The Washington Post that his client will seek a mental health evaluation.