Woman who murdered her 10-year-old cousin sentenced to death
Sammantha Allen, 28, of Phoenix, was sentenced to death on August 7 after being found guilty of murdering her 10-year-old cousin, Ame Deal, back in 2011. As punishment for taking a popsicle, Allen locked her young cousin in a small plastic storage box and left the child outside to die in the soaring summertime Arizona heat. Deal was left unattended in that plastic container for about seven hours before her lifeless remains were discovered. The same jury that sentenced Allen to death convicted her of first-degree murder and four counts of child abuse this past June. Allen was only one of a handful of Deal’s relatives who reportedly mercilessly abused the little girl, according to CBS News.
Allen is now the third woman along with another 119 inmates on Arizona’s Death Row. But there’s no telling when Allen and the other Arizona Death Row inmates will be executed, “because drugs for lethal injections aren’t available. The state hasn’t put a prisoner to death since the botched execution of Joseph Wood three years ago, which led to a lawsuit that shut down the state’s death chamber,” according to WTSP in Tampa.
Ame was forced to eat dog feces, crush aluminum cans barefoot, consume hot sauce and get in the storage box on other occasions. She also was kicked in the face, beaten with a wooden paddle and forcibly dunked after being thrown in a cold swimming pool, investigators said. Adults at the home originally claimed Ame hid during a late-night game of hide-and-seek and wasn’t found until hours later. Three other relatives are in prison serving sentences for abusing Ame. ~ CBS News
Police in Maricopa County said that no reports of Deal’s abuse were ever reported to the child welfare agencies in Arizona. Deal did have a documented history of abuse in Utah, where her family used to live before relocating to Arizona. Jurors said that Allen showed no signs of remorse throughout her trial; although she did hold her head in her hands and cried when her death sentence was read aloud in court on Monday, according to MSN.
Cynthia Stoltzmann, Allen’s mother, was Deal’s legal guardian. Stoltzmann is serving a 24-year prison sentence after having been found guilty of child abuse. Allen’s husband, 29-year-old John Allen, has also been charged with Deal’s murder. Police say that he helped his wife place Deal into that plastic box and also left the child alone to die. His trial is scheduled to begin on October 9. John Allen is also looking at a possible death sentence.
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Written by: Ave News Today Staff
