COLD SPRINGS, Nev. (KOLO/Gray News) – Nevada authorities say a little girl’s parents waited hours to contact them after their daughter was found not breathing.
According to the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, 5-year-old Izabella Loving was found dead in a Cold Springs-area home on April 3.
Her father, Nicholas Loving, was arrested after deputies said they found the child with significant signs of physical abuse.
Investigators said they found that Izabella’s parents, Nicholas and Andrea Loving, waited almost five hours that morning to call 911 for help.
Deputies said Nicholas Loving, 35, told them the two discovered Izabella not breathing just after 2 a.m. after being woken up around midnight by another child saying that she was vomiting.
The father began CPR, but instead of calling for help, he consoled his panicking wife, the sheriff’s office said.
At 6:55 a.m., authorities said the parents called Washoe County Emergency Dispatch about their daughter being unresponsive and not breathing.
Izabella was pronounced dead at 7:22 a.m. despite the rescue efforts of first responders.
“I should go to jail for not helping Izabella, Nick should go to jail for killing her,” Det. Joe Aceves shared that Andrea Loving told him during an interview on April 3.
Emergency medical personnel reported finding Izabella with “a lot of signs of trauma,” including oral trauma and apparent bruising on her face, pelvis, hips, the insides of both biceps and on her genitals.
There were multiple bruises, cuts, scrapes on her arms, legs, torso, and face, which included a black eye and a gash over her other eye.
Additionally, authorities said there were 10 separate injuries visible on the child’s face.
Izabella’s parents said she had been hit in the head with a plastic baseball bat and another toy by a sibling. They also said Izabella had fallen many times.
As an explanation for the bruises on her biceps, deputies said Nicholas Loving said Izabella had recently fallen out of his truck and he grabbed her arm to save her.
Before Izabella’s death, she was reportedly coughing up blood and mucus for 10 days.
“Nicholas admitted that they would sometimes keep Izabella in a small make-shift cubby (about 5-by-5 in size) in the girls’ rooms,” an arrest report stated. “He admitted having locked her inside on one occasion, but that Andrea mostly put Izabella inside of it.”
The report stated the room was shared by the three girls and was obvious that the other two girls had nice queen-size beds, while Izabella slept on a crib-size mattress on the floor.
The couple gave conflicting accounts and blamed each other for not calling 911 immediately, according to the report.
Authorities said Andrea Loving told them that her husband wanted to pack up the kids and run, bury the body in the backyard, flee to his parents in Virginia, or leave the body.
“Ultimately, they decided to remove Izabella from the cubby, drag her and her bed across the room and stage it there,” authorities shared in the arrest report. “[They] went with the story of them finding her at around 7 a.m. and they came up with explanations of her injuries, being that she fell multiple times or was hit with toys.”
The sheriff’s office also noted that the parents were blaming each other for abusing Izabella and they recently had a Child Protective Services case against them closed.
Nicholas Loving is currently being held on $10 million bail and is facing charges that include child abuse.
The Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks said his office has been heartbroken over hearing the news of Izabella’s death and that he will be pursuing justice for the victim.
The community also held a candlelight vigil for Izabella Friday night.
Copyright 2025 KOLO via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.