Many child abuse cases result in death. And the story of this boy is probably one of the most heartbreaking.

A 6-year-old boy from Arizona was found dead by the police. The boy was found by police on March 2, 2020, when they were called to the Flagstaff property after the boy remained unresponsive. When the police arrived, the boy was lying on the ground and appeared to be in the most horrible condition you can ever imagine. He was so skinny and obviously malnourished.

The boy’s parents, Elizabeth Archibeque, 26, and Anthony Martinez, 23, and the boy’s grandmother, 50-year-old Ann Martinez, allegedly locked the little boy in a cupboard for an entire month and starved him to death. The reason? They said because he had stolen some food. This cruel punishment slowly killed the child by starvation. The police came across his skeletal remains inside the cupboard, weighing just eighteen pounds by the time his malnourished body was found.

According to the police statement, “The physical appearance of the six-year-old child did not compliment his age, appearing malnourished.” Medical assistance arrived on the scene. They tried, but they could not bring the boy back. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the crime.

And when it came to the death of this poor little boy, it seemed like the family members have shown little remorse. In fact, they have even pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charges against them. The family is from Flagstaff, Arizona, and all three of them including the parents and the grandmother have been charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, and child abuse.

When the autopsy report came back from the authorities, it proved that Deshaun Martinez died from starvation. Because of this, the manner of his death was listed as homicide.

Just knowing the fact that the boy had been locked in the cupboard would be enough reason to think that he would die of starvation if stuck in there for a month. In fact, even adults placed in such a situation would not have been able to survive.

At first, the parents claimed that Deshaun died from malnourishment because of a mysterious medical condition. They even claimed that the 6-year-old boy might have been eating diet or caffeine pills to keep his frame slim. But the cops didn’t believe any of their reasons. And later on, they told the truth about how they locked Deshaun and his seven-year-old brother in a cupboard. They have been doing this for sixteen hours each day and didn’t give them much food.

Every day, these boys were locked in the closet from 8 PM to 12 PM. When their parents would allow them to go out of the closet, they would only be given a bowl of oatmeal or gruel. Then after four hours, they will be given a cheese sandwich before they get locked away in the cupboard again.

Starvation was listed as the official cause of death but there are also other facts that should not be taken for granted. For example, the boy is already 6-year-old but only had the same weight as a baby. He also looked “skeletal” which meant he had almost no body fat remaining on his body. Authorities also reported that his hair had turned brittle.

Prosecutors are turning over these facts and they have yet to decide if they’re going to seek capital punishment for the boy’s murder.