Dead puppies are no fun -- just ask 21-year-old Sadie Elizabeth Madrid, who was apparently so bored with her dead dogs that she left them to rot in her apartment for nearly two months.

Madrid's two dogs got sick in early December -- they were throwing up, losing weight, etc. Rather than take the pooches to a veterinarian, or an animal shelter, she left them in her Gilbert apartment in a locked cage with no food or water, which is where they ultimately died.

Then, rather than disposing of the dogs' dead bodies, Madrid left them to rot in the cage for nearly two months -- it wasn't until her roommate noticed a smell coming from her room that the dogs' carcases were discovered.

According to court records obtained by New Times, Madrid's roommate called police on Tuesday, after noticing the smell and finding the dogs' remains.

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Bullhead City Police Department

Staci Lynn Barbosa and Jonathan Edward Vandergriff are accused of brutally "raping" their one-month-old son.

​A story we wrote a few years ago about a Bullhead City couple accused of killing their newborn baby during what's described by authorities as a "brutal" sexual attack has been getting a lot of attention as of late -- and we have no idea why.

Regardless, we figured we'd provide an update on the case.

We spoke to Greg McPhillips this afternoon, the Mohave County prosecutor assigned to the case, who tells us not much has been happening. However, he says he's decided to not seek the death penalty for the two suspects, 20-year-old Staci Lynn Barbosa and 24-year-old Jonathan Edward Vandergriff.

McPhillips says he never sought the death penalty for Barbosa, but had for Vandergriff. However, because of the costs associated with trying a death penalty case -- and the fact that evidence in cases of murdered children is often hotly contested by defense attorneys -- he backed off.

On the morning of June 15, 2010, police were called to Western Arizona Regional Medical Center's Emergency Room where the one-month-old baby was "fighting for his life."

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News out of Canada a few days ago about the first-degree murder convictions and life sentences of a man, his wife, and their 21-year-old son: More >>

MCSO

John and Samantha Allen (left) have each been charged with first-degree murder for the death of Samantha Allen's cousin, 10-year-old Ame Deal. Judith Deal and Cynthia Stolzmann (right), Deal's grandmother and aunt, have been charged with child abuse.

​The Maricopa County Attorney's Office announced this morning that it will seek the death penalty for two people accused of murdering 10-year-old Ame Deal last summer by locking her in a tiny footlocker and leaving her there overnight.

Samantha Allen -- Ame's cousin -- and her husband, John Allen, have been charged with first-degree murder in the girl's death. Two of Ame's other relatives, her aunt, Cynthia Stolzman, and her grandmother, Judith Deal, each is charged with multiple counts of child abuse for repeatedly abusing the girl.

The County Attorney's Office cites Ame's young age, and the "especially cruel, heinous or depraved" manner of the murder as aggravating factors that led to the decision to seek the death penalty for the Allens.

The depravity of the murder, Phoenix police told New Times last summer, "makes you sick to your stomach."

No argument here.

According to court documents obtained by New Times, the abuse of Ame includes frequently getting locked in the footlocker, being forced to eat dog feces, getting beaten with a wooden paddle her family referred to as a "butt buster," being forced to sleep in a shower stall with no pillow or blankets, getting forced to do "back bends" for hours, and having hot sauce shoved in her mouth.

All of the aforementioned abuse was "punishment" for doing things like "lying" and stealing food.  

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Jerice Hunter

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A Valley bail-bond company says it has denied an offer to write a bond for Jerice Hunter because her daughter is still missing and the bond amount is too low.

The operators of Regulator Bail Bonds, Inc., tweeted and Facebooked their displeasure last night, urging the state's other bail-bond companies to follow their lead.

After Hunter was arrested on suspicion of child abuse following the disappearance of her 5-year-old, Jhessye Shockley, a judge set her bond at $100,000.

A channel 15 (KNXV-TV) news report stated yesterday that a local church was trying to raise the 10 percent of the bond needed to free Hunter from jail.

Jim Hood, the owner of Regulator, won't say who contacted his company this week with an offer to put the front money and collateral down for Hunter. But Hood turned down the offer.

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Jerice Hunter cleaned her apartment with bleach days before reporting her 5-year-old daughter missing.

​Glendale police announced yesterday that they don't expect to find missing 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley alive, and now we know why: it appears her mother, Jerice Hunter, who was arrested yesterday on child abuse charges "directly related to the disappearance," beat the girl weeks before she was ever reported missing. She also kept her in a closet and told her other children to lie to police about the disappearance.

Hunter also cleaned her apartment with bleach a few days before reporting Shockley missing, which suggests she might have been trying to destroy evidence.

According to court records obtained by New Times, two of Jhessye's siblings, who are now in foster care, told their foster parents about some of the abuse Shockley received at the hands of her mother, who spent four years in a California prison for child abuse -- and scolded us last month for asking whether she hurt her daughter .

Jhessye's 13-year-old sister told her foster parents that several weeks before Shockley was reported missing, Hunter came home and found her watching TV with a boy from the neighborhood. The girl told her foster parents -- and later police -- that Hunter called Jhessye a "ho" and dragged her into a bedroom where the sister could hear Jhessye screaming and crying.

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Brian Hopf

​A Chandler meth head who pleaded guilty in June to second-degree murder in the death of his 3-week-old daughter was sentenced to 22 years in prison this morning.

In addition to the 22 years for second-degree murder, Brian Hopf was hit with 14.95 years for child abuse.

The sentences will run consecutively, courtesy of Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Robert Gottsfield.

Hopf was initially charged with first-degree murder and was deemed competent to stand trial in April.

Hopf was arrested in September 2009 after his daughter, Isabella, was admitted to a Chandler hospital with life-threatening injuries, including multiple skull fractures, fractured ribs, and trauma to her body.

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Three boys whose grandfather forced them on torturous marches across tough Grand Canyon trails told rangers their entire summer had been filled with travel and abuse.

The three boys -- 8, 9 and 12 -- told how their grandpa, Christopher Carlson of Indianapolis, injured them repeatedly during trips to various states, Mexico, Jamaica and several South American countries.

It's unknown where the boys reside or why they were with their grandfather, who's now in jail in connection with possible child abuse charges. A police report mentions that the childrens' mother may have known of some of the abuse. The 9-year-old told a ranger that his mother had told Carlson "that the boys 'better be getting air' if he is choking them."

The report, which you can read below, goes into sickening detail of how the maniacal grandpa pushed the boys to the brink of death up and down the canyon in temperatures that soared over 100 degrees.

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Chandler Police Department

CPS placed a 4-month-old baby in the custody of Angelica Jimenez -- which turned out to be a horrible idea.

​When Child Protective Services placed a 4-month-old baby in the care of 25-year-old Angelica Jimenez, she didn't bother to tell the CPS caseworker that her convicted felon boyfriend was living with her. In fact, she told CPS he doesn't live with her.

But 30-year-old Steven Saldana, who police say has a vast criminal history, does live with her -- and he allegedly used the 4-month-old baby as an ashtray; police found a cigarette burn on her body, which is nothing compared to the 14 broken bones the girl suffered, allegedly at his hands. Not to mention the multiple bruises and abrasions found all over the girl's body.

Luckily, the baby lived.

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Image: Maricopa County Sheriff's Office

Benny Gibson and Jennifer Edna Paul just earned some new legal problems: The son police accused them of beating last week died on Sunday.

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Police report this morning that 6-year-old Jacob Gibson died on Sunday, not quite a week after the horrific beating he received at the hands of his parents.

Benny Gibson, 49, and his wife, Jennifer Edna Paul, 37, remain in jail -- now suspected of killing, as opposed to merely brutalizing, their little boy.

As we reported on Wednesday, this family had been on the radar of Child Protective Services since 2005 with both Jacob and a younger child, Velladine, taken from the home -- and later returned -- at different times.

Last Monday, just after 1 a.m., police and paramedics responding to home in the 7100 block of North 19th Avenue found the boy barely clinging to life, with severe injuries to his body and head.
 

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