Four adults have been charged in the brutal murder of 10-year-old Ame Deal. Amy was stuffed in a locked storage container as punishment for taking a Popsicle out of the freezer. Her family said she died accidentally while playing hide-and-seek with other children.
Her death was ruled a homicide after detectives found a pattern of horrifying abuse, including forcing the little girl to eat dog feces, making her sleep on the shower floor, and forcing her to exercise barefoot outside in the blistering heat.
Ame’s aunt frantically called Phoenix 911 for an ambulance, according to a 911 tape that has been released.
We were playing hide-and-seek last night and didn’t find her. She was in a box today. We went to bed, and they were all up still playing, all the older kids were. And I don’t know what the kids were thinking. Ame was one of at least a dozen children living at the house.
Two weeks after Ame’s death, Phoenix police arrested the four scumbag adults and accused them of abusing and murdering the girl. John and Sammantha Allen, both 23, face first-degree murder charges. Ame’s 44-year-old aunt Cynthia Stoltzmann, and 72-year-old Judith Deal, the grandmother of Sammantha Allen, face child-abuse charges.
A 911 operator gave instructions for doing chest compressions on Ame while fire and police officials were en route to the house. The caller said
If you’re describing CPR, my sister and husband are doing it right now
All four defendants have pleaded not guilty. The defendants hearings are scheduled in November.
October 20, 2011
Crime News, Video