LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The mother of a 3-year-old girl stabbed to death identified her daughter as Journei Ross. The child died Wednesday after she was allegedly stabbed several times by her babysitter, Marketta Phillips, who made her first court appearance Thursday morning.
Phalan Whitson and Jeremy Ross, Journie’s father, sat through the brief hearing as Phillips, 41, acknowledged the open murder charge she is facing in the death of the child. Judge Suzan Bacum said Phillips would be held without bail.
Ross said he and Phillips had been living together for about a year but he never had an indication of a problem. “I didn’t know she was a crazy case,” Ross said.
He said when he arrived home after work around 3:30 a.m. and saw Phillips sitting in the kitchen and noticed blood on her.
“She was just out of it or something. I walked into the room and I seen my baby girl …. on the bed.” He called 911 and began chest compressions.
Whitson, who shares custody with her daughter’s father, said it was the first time she had seen the babysitter. She said she last saw her daughter when Ross picked her up on Monday.
“She took my baby,” Whitson tearfully said following the court hearing. “I didn’t know this woman. Today was literally the first day I saw this woman.” Whitson said she learned her daughter was stabbed 10 times.
She said her daughter was non-verbal and “on the spectrum” but was a bright child who liked to sing.
“She could light up a room wherever she was at,” she said. “I deserve justice.” Journie would have turned four in July.
“She didn’t deserve none of this,” Ross said.
Phillips’ next court hearing is scheduled for April 1, 2025.
