Arizona mother sentenced to life behind bars for starving 6-year-old son to death

An Arizona mother was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to starving her 6-year-old son to death.

During the proceedings, Elizabeth Archibeque’s lawyer requested that her sentence include a parole option after 35 years, as she had agreed to plead guilty to the 2020 murder of Deshaun Martinez, NBC News reported.

Coconino Superior Court Judge Ted Reed denied the request, citing the “heinous, cruel and depraved behavior” in the crime that he felt warranted her serving time “the rest of [her] natural life.”

Witnesses in the case described a disturbing scene at the home of the boy, where he and his brother were allegedly kept in a small closet reeking of urine and denied food.

“I have never seen something so horrific in all my life,” said Flagstaff Det. Melissa Seay, who testified Thursday. She claimed that Deshaun “was just bones” when she saw him.

“His face was completely sunken in. It was just like a skeleton,” Seay added. An autopsy later revealed Deshaun weighed just 18 pounds at the time of his death.

Archibeque briefly testified on her own behalf, expressing remorse for her actions and saying that she took responsibility for her son’s death and would accept whatever sentence was handed down.

“A huge part of me died along with my beautiful child,” said Archibeque, 29. “Not a day goes by that I do not grieve ... I am so sorry.”

She and the boy’s father, Anthony Martinez, and grandmother, Ann Martinez, were charged in the case. Anthony and Ann Martinez have pleaded not guilty and are undergoing separate trials.

Initially, the boy’s parents attributed his physical state to a medical condition and unusual diet.

However, they eventually confessed to the police that they had confined him and his older brother in a closet for 16 hours a day and fed them minimal food. The older brother survived the horrifying ordeal.