Boy starves to death as mum keeps kids in tiny urine-soacked closet without food
A six-year-old boy starved to death after his cruel mum locked him and his brother in a tiny closet reeking of urine.
Mum Elizabeth Archibeque has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to the murder of her son in a shocking case of child neglect.
Witnesses told the court about the horrors of the tiny closet, which apparently reeked of urine, where the boy and his brother were kept and denied food by their Arizona mother. Archibeque had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and child abuse in relation to the 2020 death of her son, Deshaun Martinez.
An autopsy found Deshaun had died of starvation in March 2020. According to authorities, he weighed just 18 pounds at the time of his death.
Archibeque's lawyer asked that her sentence include the possibility of parole after 35 years, partly because she had agreed to plead guilty to first-degree murder and child abuse. However, Coconino Superior Court Judge Ted Reed said while her expression of remorse was genuine, her "heinous, cruel and depraved behaviour" warranted imprisonment for "the rest of your natural life " on Thursday, July 27.
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Elizabeth Archibeque reads a statement during her sentencing hearing (AP)A police detective testified on Thursday that she had never seen anything so horrific in her entire life. 29-year-old Archibeque, who briefly took the witness stand to testify on her own behalf, said she blamed herself for her son's death and fully accepted whatever sentence she received.
"A huge part of me died along with my beautiful child," she told the court. "Not a day goes by that I do not grieve... I am so sorry."
Archibeque was charged along with the boy's father, Anthony Martinez, and grandmother, Ann Martinez. They have pleaded not guilty and are being tried separately on murder and child abuse charges.
Authorities found Deshaun unresponsive after Ann Martinez called 911 on March 2, 2020. She said she thought her grandson was dead.
Elizabeth Archibeque has been sentenced to life without parole (AP)
The boy's father, Anthony Martinez, is also facing murder and child abuse charges (AP)Deshaun's parents initially said their son's malnourished state was due to a medical condition and him ingesting diet or caffeine pills. Eventually, they told police that Deshaun and his older brother were kept in a closet for 16 hours a day with little to eat.
The brother survived the horrific ordeal. The boys' confinement in the tiny closet was a punishment for stealing food while the parents slept, according to police. Their two sisters were found healthy in the apartment where the family lived.
Flagstaff police Detective Melissa Seay testified about her experience examining the 21-by-25-inch closet where the boys slept on Thursday. She described the closet with an orange piece of plastic on the floor as having a "foul, awful smell of urine."
A memoria for Deshaun Martinez was set up in Flagstaff, Arizona (AP)"I have never seen something so horrific in all my life," said Detective Seay. She described Deshaun as "just bones".
"His face was completely sunken in. It was just like a skeleton," she said. She said his brother wasn't in much better condition.
"His bones were protruding from his back. I could see his ribs," Detective Seay recalled.
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Lawyers for Anne Martinez are set to appear at a case management conference on September 18, with her trial currently scheduled to begin in January 2024. Anthony Martinez had been scheduled to go on trial earlier this year, however, the trial date was vacated and has not been reset.
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