LAS VEGAS (AP) - A man suspected of killing his young daughter in Illinois and forcing his wife into prostitution in Las Vegas made a court appearance Tuesday on charges he abused two daughters kept captive in an apartment.
Jason Scott Quate, 34, is already jailed without bail on sex trafficking, living from the earnings of a prostitute and possession of child pornography charges.
A Las Vegas judge set a July 26 hearing to determine whether Quate should stand trial in Nevada state court on 33 felony charges of child sexual assault, abuse and lewdness involving the children who are now 11 and 13 and in child protective custody.
Convictions on the five child sex and 21 lewdness with a minor counts, combined, could get Quate 385 years to life in Nevada state prison.
Katrina Ross, Quate’s court-appointed lawyer in the sex trafficking and living from the earnings of a prostitute case, has said he will plead not guilty.
Quate and his wife, Elizabeth Odell-Quate, also are wanted in Illinois on charges of concealing a homicidal death after the body of a girl was found June 6 in the garage of an abandoned home in Centreville, Illinois.
The remains were found after Elizabeth Odell-Quate told police in Las Vegas that her husband killed their 6-year-old daughter, hid the body, and forced her into prostitution.
Quate is accused of keeping two daughters hidden in an apartment after moving with them and his wife to Las Vegas early last year, having sex with one daughter, and injuring both girls with beatings using a belt or electrical extension cord.
Elizabeth Odell-Quate, 35, remains jailed in Las Vegas after telling a judge she would not contest being transferred to Belleville, Illinois, to face felony charges of concealing a homicidal death. She faces no criminal charges in Las Vegas.
Neither parent has been charged in the death of the child.
The body found last week in Centreville, Illinois near St. Louis has not been formally identified and the coroner in that state’s St. Clair County did not immediately determine a cause of death.
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