'Part of me died with my beautiful child': Mom faces life in prison in son's murder

A young Flagstaff mother who pleaded guilty to murdering her 6-year-old son doesn’t expect to ever see the outside of a prison cell after being sentenced on Thursday.

She thanked the woman who adopted the rest of her children for giving them a better life in court.

Elizabeth Archibeque, 26, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and child abuse of her son Deshaun Martinez on May 24.

Deshaun died on March 2, 2020, and was found by police only weighing 18 pounds, the expected weight of a one-year-old.

Police found Deshaun and his 7-year-old brother in a closet smaller than a doormat, both starved and stunted.Archibeque’s husband, Anthony Martinez, and his mother, Ann Martinez, are also being tried for murder and child abuse in separate cases. Trail dates have yet to be set.

Coconino Superior Court Judge Ted Reed balanced the cruelty of the crime and the trauma Archibeque suffered at her husband's hands, and her mental health issues before sentencing her to life in prison for the murder charge and 10 years for the child abuse charge.

What happened?

On March 2, 2020, Ann Martinez called the police after Deshaun's father found him in the closet, not moving.

Police found Deshaun and his brother, and two younger sisters. In court, the lead detective testified that the girls were well-dressed and well-taken care of. They stood in stark contrast to how the boys looked.

A lifetime in prison: Sentencing set for Arizona mother guilty of murder, child abuse in starvation of her son

Archibeque's attorney, Christine Brown, claimed in court that Anthony Martinez was possessive and didn't let Archibeque comfort the boys the way she could with the girls.

Court records show that police interviewed both parents and the boy's grandmother. Detectives said that the boys were kept in the closet as punishment for stealing food from the fridge.

Anthony Martinez told police that they were running out of food, according to court records.

Deshaun's brother, who was kept in the same closet, was adopted by Marcy Roof. She spoke at the sentencing and told the court that Deshaun’s brother was traumatized when it came to meals.

“Every five minutes he asked me when the next meal was,” she said.

When police found him, they saw that he was just as malnourished as Deshaun, and his legs had been so atrophied from sitting in that closet that it took a year before he could stretch his legs out fully.

Both boys spent 16 hours in the closet at a time, according to court records.

Autopsy report: 6-year-old Flagstaff boy who weighed 18 pounds died of starvation

At sentencing

In court, she told the judge that Archibeque blamed herself for not leaving her husband and taking her children from that situation but is grateful that her children are safe and together.

She pleaded guilty in May, knowing that her charges came with a life sentence.

Even though she won't leave prison, she was relieved that it meant the children were safe and well taken care of together, she told the court Thursday.

“I thank Marcy Roof for giving them that I couldn’t, and I think a part of me died with my beautiful child,” she said, “Because of that, I fully accept what is given to me though it will never come close to how I feel.”

Roof, who adopted Deshaun’s brother and two sisters, detailed what it was like to bring his 7-year-old brother back from the point of death.

“At 37 pounds and a size four, our mother and son bond began,” she said, “His arms and legs were so tiny –the size of a broom handle.”

She said that he was terrified of water, of eating, of getting up at night, but worst of all was his fear of using the bathroom. It took a year of sponge baths till he was able to sit in a shower.

She also spoke about the sisters who weren’t deprived of food but were traumatized all the same.

“On the other side of the closet were his two younger sisters who were not being punished like the boys but witnessed the severe abuse,” she said.

The sister, who was five at the time of Deshaun’s death, didn’t speak for three years after watching her brothers get deprived of food and get put in the closet, Roof explained.

The younger sister, on the other hand, recounted everything she saw in the house.

“Some of the details that have come out of such a young child have sent shimmered shivers down my spine,” Roof said.

Roof, addressing Archibeque, said she was saddened that Archibeque had thrown away the precious privilege of motherhood.

“Deshaun was murdered. But his death saved three other children,” she said, “To this day, these amazing children play games for four players not three. They always reserve a space for Deshaun.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Flagstaff woman sentenced to life in prison in son's murder