Jade Morris Update: Police expect to ID body found in north Las Vegas as missing girl, 10

(CBS/AP) NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Nevada police expect to know Friday whether a body found in an undeveloped housing tract can be positively identified as missing 10-year-old Jade Morris.

Authorities couldn't immediately confirm that the body was Jade when it was discovered Thursday, Las Vegas police homicide Capt. Chris Jones said.

But, "I can tell you that the likelihood is that this is our victim," Jones said.

Coroner Michael Murphy said he expected to make a positive identification Friday, the same day that 50-year-old Brenda Stokes, the woman Jade was last seen with, appears in court on charges that she slashed a co-worker with razor blades at the Bellagio resort casino.

Jade was last seen by her family on Dec. 21 when Stokes picked her up for a shopping outing, police said. Stokes was a trusted friend of the girl's father, and family members told reporters that the two dated for several years.

Stokes, who also uses the name Brenda Wilson, was arrested later that night after she was accused of slashing the co-worker. Stoles is now in jail, and Capt. Jones said she has not cooperated in the investigation into the girl's whereabouts.

A passer-by called 911 about noon Thursday, and police found a girl's body in brush near palm trees in a small traffic circle about 10 miles from the downtown Las Vegas outlet mall where Stokes was to have taken the girl shopping.

Stokes picked up the girl at about 5 p.m. on Dec. 21, and two hours later returned a red 2007 Saab sedan to a friend who she borrowed it from for the shopping trip, Jones said.

Stokes later got a ride with a friend to the Bellagio resort on the Las Vegas Strip, where she was arrested after authorities said she attacked a female co-worker, Joyce Rhone, with a razor in each hand as Rhone dealt blackjack about 9:30 p.m.

Rhone, 44, was hospitalized with deep cuts on her face, including one from her ear to the edge of her mouth. A police arrest report said Rhone also had several smaller cuts around her right eye.

Records show that Stokes was held on $60,000 bail at the Clark County jail on felony battery with a weapon, burglary and mayhem charges that could get her decades in prison. She was due in Las Vegas Justice Court on Friday morning.