A 29-year-old mother has been sentenced to life without parole after pleading guilty to the murder of her 6-year-old son.
Elizabeth Archibeque of Flagstaff, Arizona was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder and child abuse in the death of her son, Deshaun Martinez, in March 2020.
Police were called to the home in March after adults in the household discovered Deshaun unresponsive. They found him locked in a small closest weighing only 18 pounds, the size of an average 1-year-old. His older brother, then 7 years old, was crammed inside the closet as well, which has been described as so cramped, it was smaller than a doormat.
Police believed the children had been locked in the closet for up to 16 hours a day for a month, during which time they were often denied food.
According to court documents reviewed by the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY network, detectives interviewing the family were told the boys had initially been locked in the closet as punishment for stealing food from the fridge. The pair had reportedly sneaked into the kitchen while their mother and father, 27-year-old Anthony Jose Archibeque-Martinez, slept. Their grandmother, Ann Marie Martinez, 53, also lived in the home and reportedly punished the children when they were caught.
