After reporting their teenage son missing on February 25, Arizona couple Amber-Leah Valentine, 41, and Jon Imes, 41, are now in jail in connection with his death. The two allegedly abandoned their son's body in Kingman, Arizona, after lying to police about his whereabouts.
According to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office, investigators discovered the teen's body on February 28, three days after his mother reported him missing. Valentine reportedly contacted the sheriff's office four days later, on March 2, after an unrelated incident involving her teenage daughter. Authorities took Valentine and her daughter to the hospital, where she confessed to disposing of her son's body.
Valentine initially claimed she had not seen her son since the day before.
According to the sheriff's office, Valentine contacted authorities February 25 and said her son ran away and that he had been missing for 24 hours. Deputies interviewed the couple at home. On February 28, sheriff's deputies were dispatched to an area near Anson Smith and Indian Canyon Road after a body was discovered, CBS 5 reported.
Mohave County Sheriff's Office representative Anita Mortensen told the news outlet it was an unusual location to find a body and that deputies initially didn't realize it was a teenager.
"It's a very traveled location, so for them to put the body there, it was very strange 'cause that is a very very traveled area with a lot of traffic," she said.
Valentine contacted the sheriff's office again after reporting her son missing.
She called the sheriff's office on March 2 to report an incident with her roommates, Richard Pounds, 34, and Shioban Gujda, 39. Valentine alleged that the roommates had been holding her teenage daughter captive and that she had just freed her. When Valentine and her daughter were at Kingman Regional Medical Center after the reported incident, Valentine confessed to lying to investigators.
She reportedly knew her son was dead when she reported him missing and allegedly disposed of his body with Imes. Investigators later interviewed Imes, who also confessed to lying about his son's disappearance and disposing of his body, the sheriff's office reported.
The teen girl reported abuse in the home.
According to the sheriff's office, the teen girl, who was not named, claimed Pounds shot her in the eye with a BB gun, CBS 5 reported. She also alleged other abuse in the home, but it is unknown who was involved in those claims.
The Arizona Department of Child Safety took the teen into custody. The Mohave County Sheriff's Office said she is receiving medical treatment at an undisclosed facility.
Valentine, Imes, and Pounds all face multiple charges.
After the abuse claims were made, the Bullhead City SWAT team served a search warrant at the home on Packard Avenue and took Pounds and Gujda into custody, the sheriff's office reported. Investigators questioned the couple and arrested Pounds on charges of felony child abuse and aggravated assault, the sheriff's office Facebook post noted. Gujda was questioned and released pending further investigation.
Valentine and Imes were taken into custody on charges of felony abandonment/concealment of a dead body. Authorities booked all three into the Mohave County Adult Detention Facility.
Investigators are calling the case 'disturbing.'
The reports of alleged abuse by the teen girl and the teen son's death left investigators shaken.
"Any call that we get that involves a child of any age is extremely disturbing," Mortensen said per CBS 5. "Our deputies, our detectives, they are fathers, they're mothers. They have their own kids and going to calls like this is always extremely disturbing that someone could do something or be in the same home as something like this that is happening to their own children."
Facebook comments on the Mohave County Sheriff's Office page echo Mortensen's sentiments.
"This is absolutely sickening. As a mother, not somthing I can wrap my head around," one person wrote. "I can't imagine the life these poor kids have had to live up to this point. I hope they all rot in prision."
"This is gut-wrenching and unbelievable," another person commented. "My heart goes out to these children. I pray for GODS GRACE AND BLESSINGS FOR them and law enforcement."
"How utterly horrible! Rest in peace and hope that the daughter finds peace as well," someone else agreed.
The boy's cause of death is pending autopsy results. According to the sheriff's office, the case remains actively under investigation and additional charges are pending.
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child) or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
