Documents: Girl who died in box suffered abuse for months

PHOENIX - Court documents show a Phoenix girl who was found dead earlier this month in a box was also a victim of various forms of abuse over the last several months.

Police arrested four family members in the case Wednesday night for putting the 10-year-old girl in the box overnight as punishment earlier this month.

Phoenix police Sgt. Trent Crump said 10-year-old Ame Deal's grandmother, aunt and two cousins each face charges in the girl's death.

Ame was found dead July 12 outside a home near 35th Avenue and Broadway Road after family members said she had been playing a game of hide and seek.

Police said at a Thursday morning news conference that Ame was being punished for taking a popsicle and had actually been placed in a footlocker-type box outside the home.

ABC15 talked to the child's family after her death and an aunt said her daughter was watching Ame and several other children at the home.

She said Ame was playing hide and seek with the other children and was found hours later by a 3-year-old cousin.

Twenty-three-year-old Samantha Allen and her 23-year-old husband John Allen, face first degree murder charges for putting Ame in the box.

Ame's grandmother, 62-year-old Judith Deal and her aunt Cynthia Stoltzmann, 44, face charges of child abuse and kidnapping.

Police said Ame was placed in the box as an ongoing punishment.

According to court documents released Thursday, Ame was put in the box by family members multiple times during the last six months.

According to those documents, one witness told police that Ame's aunt and legal guardian, Cynthia Stoltzmann, "put Ame into the black box as a [disciplinary] measure. She saw this at least five times within the last few months."

That same witness also told police, "She saw Cynthia force Ame to eat dog feces" as punishment for not cleaning up all the dog feces near their clothesline.

Police also reported that one of Ame's aunts, Samantha Allen, "eventually confessed to putting hot sauce in Ame's mouth, hitting her with [a paddle called the] Butt Buster, and putting her in the box as a disciplinary measure."

A different witness told police that Ame was the "only child punished in the home" and was also "forced to crush cans barefoot." The same witness also saw "Ame being forced to exercise in extreme measures."

The police report also said the box had been padlocked with Ame inside it before everyone went to bed.

However, according to the police report, Stoltzmann admitted to a detective that "Ame has no bed or room. Ame sleeps on [the] floor of a stall shower. She has no blanket or pillows. This was a disciplinary measure due to bed wetting."

Crump said the girl was home-schooled and there were several children in and out of the home at various times. Twelve children are now in CPS custody.

A spokesperson for the Department of Economic Security that oversees Child Protective Services told ABC15 that there were no prior reports of abuse.

Crump said there is some indication the girl may have suffered some abuse in Utah where the family lived prior.

Police say the girl's biological mother is not in the picture. They are still trying to contact and confirm the whereabouts of the girl's biological father.

Police records indicate that some adults who were living at the home in tents in the backyard provided information to help them unravel the story.