Accused mom out on bond after daughter’s body found in Centreville garage

A Las Vegas woman accused of concealing the death of her 6-year-old daughter in Belleville spent about four months in St. Clair County jail before a judge significantly reduced her bond in November, while Las Vegas prosecutors are working toward a trial for the more than 40 charges her husband faces there.

Elizabeth Quate was brought to the metro-east from Las Vegas in July by an extradition company. The woman and her husband, Jason Quate, were each charged June 9 in St. Clair County with concealing Alysha Quate’s homicidal death.

The 36-year-old woman was being held at the St. Clair County jail on an $750,000 bail, according to a motion filed by a defense lawyer to reduce Elizabeth Quate’s bond. In light of that request, Judge Zina Cruse reduced the bail on Nov. 20 to $30,000.

Elizabeth Quate, originally from the metro-east, was released shortly after when a man from Las Vegas posted her $3,000 cash bond. On her bond sheet, she listed a Greenville address as her residence.

Her jury trial is scheduled to begin March 26. As a class 3 felony, the crime is punishable by up to five years in prison.

While she could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday morning, the man who posted Elizabeth Quate’s bond, William Babazadeh, declined to comment when reached by phone.

The 2017 case began when Elizabeth Quate went to a Las Vegas women’s shelter June 5 and told authorities her husband had been prostituting her. She told Las Vegas police they could find the body of her 6-year-old daughter, Alysha Quate, in a detached garage in Centreville. Local police went to the address and found the girl’s body in the garage the morning of June 6.

Shortly after the child’s body was found, Elizabeth Quate was taken into custody in Las Vegas on a fugitive warrant from an unrelated forgery case out of St. Clair County.

Police believe Alysha Quate died in a home on Lebanon Avenue in Belleville before her body was hidden in Centreville. Her autopsy in St. Louis was inconclusive, St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. previously told the BND. He added that further tests need to be conducted because the child’s body was so badly decomposed.

Police raided the Quates’ Las Vegas apartment on the same day and found his two surviving daughters — 11 and 13 — pantless, laying on separate mattresses and showing signs of severe abuse and neglect, according to police reports.

The surviving girls were taken to the Southern Nevada Children’s Assessment Center for forensic interviewing. Investigators reported they discovered reason to believe Jason Quate had sexually abused the two, as well.

Jason Quate had been charged with five counts of sexual assault against a child younger than 14, one count of committing open or gross lewdness with a child younger than 18, six counts of child abuse and neglect — two alleging severe mental or bodily harm — and 21 counts of lewdness with a child younger than 14.

A grand jury indicted him on those charges and the case is now working its way through district court, according to Clark County Assistant Public Defender Darren Richards.

Jason Quate is also facing charges of sex-trafficking an adult, accepting and receiving the earnings of a prostitute and possessing child pornography. Court records indicate he is still in custody and is scheduled for hearings in those cases on Jan. 9 and 10.

His St. Clair County court case has no pending appearances or documents on record.

This story was originally published January 4, 2018 at 11:54 AM with the headline "Accused mom out on bond after daughter’s body found in Centreville garage."