Las Vegas mum reveals horror abuse as son is found in freezer

A woman has said she was “just trying to survive” while allegedly being held captive, before a note handed by her daughter to a teacher led to their discovery.

A US mum who was allegedly imprisoned and abused alongside her two children has broken her silence after authorities were alerted to their plight thanks to a sticky note.

Four-year-old Mason Dominguez’s body was found in a freezer last month after his older sister handed notes to her primary school teacher in Las Vegas.

One of the notes from the girl’s mother, who has not yet been named, said she was “being held against her will” and did not know where her son Mason was.

Thanks to the note, authorities were able to track down and arrest Brandon Toseland, who has now been charged with kidnapping and murder.

Mr Toseland is accused of killing Mason last December and putting his body in a freezer, as well as keeping his mother and sister captive.

Brandon Toseland with the mother of two, who has not been named. Picture: Facebook

‘Just trying to survive’

Speaking via her solicitor Stephen Stubbs to People, the woman said she was “just trying to survive” when she wrote the notes.

She alleges to have been kept captive in Mr Toseland’s home for months and subjected to physical and sexual abuse, with her ex-boyfriend installing motion detection sensors and locks on her bedroom, as well as watching her go to the toilet.

The woman claims she was able to travel with Mr Toseland in his car but was kept handcuffed. It was there she found a pen and pad of “sticky notes”.

When she was alone, she would write pleas for help on the notes and then hide them, waiting for an opportunity to use them to get help.

On the night of February 21 the woman was allegedly left alone with her daughter and, seizing the opportunity, gave her the notes.

She instructed her daughter to hand them to her teacher at school so authorities could be alerted.

Mason’s body was discovered in a freezer by authorities.

‘He has a gun’

The next day that’s what the girl did, handing in a stack of notes which read, “Help! I’m being held captive”, “Call my mum” and “He has a gun. Be careful”, People reported.

Mr Toseland is now in police custody and has been charged with two counts of first-degree kidnapping and one count of open murder (which is where it is left to the judge or jury to determine the degree of the offence).

He will next appear in court in April.

Toseland has been charged with Mason’s death as well as kidnapping.

Mason’s family are now fundraising for his funeral, which is tragically taking place just over a year after his father died.

Mr Stubbs told People Eli Dominguez had died suddenly from pneumonia in January 2021, leaving the young widow and their two children struggling financially.

It was after that she met Mr Toseland, whose alleged controlling behaviour had concerned her family members.

Talking to The Sun, Mason’s grandmother Diane White-Maldonado claimed there had been “red flags” about Mr Toseland’s behaviour towards her daughter and her two children.

“He worked on isolating her from our family because he expressed some jealousy and insecurities,” she said.