The Misery Machine - The Case of Ame Deal

Episode Date: February 8, 2024

This week, Drewby and Yergy head down to Phoenix, Arizona, to discuss the case of Ame Deal, a 10-year-old little girl who was tortured by her "father's" extended family members. After taking a popsicle on a hot summer day, Ame was placed inside of a footlocker and kept their overnight in sweltering conditions, ultimately causing her to suffocate to death.  Support Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Join Our Facebook Group: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #themiserymachine #podcast #truecrime Source Material: https://www.thetoptens.com/list/saddest-cases-child-abuse-resulting-death/ https://vocal.media/criminal/the-severe-abuse-of-ame-lynn-deal https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74446612/ame-lynn-deal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Ame_Deal https://medium.com/@daisyaspencer4/the-agonizing-death-of-10-year-old-ame-lynn-deal-37fe4682c89a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pxanzNK-OQ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoat https://www.facebook.com/groups/JusticeforAmeDeal/ https://www.facebook.com/ripamedeal/ https://www.facebook.com/kenneth.griest/ https://www.fastcompany.com/90927655/in-arizonas-extreme-heat-just-touching-the-asphalt-can-cause-severe-burns#:~:text=During%20extreme%20heat%2C%20studies%20have,high%20as%20180%20degrees%20Fahrenheit. https://www.maricopacountyattorney.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=81 https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/death-sentence-upheld-in-murder-of-ame-deal-14121822 https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/the-tortured-death-of-ame-deal-and-her-horrid-family-9878749 https://people.com/crime/ame-deal-killers-death-sentence/ http://www.angelizdsplace.com/child132.htm https://lawandcrime.com/crime/arizona-supreme-court-upholds-death-sentence-for-woman-who-left-10-year-old-child-to-die-in-locked-plastic-bin/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjHCSnuprTg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf_LMbS9u8g

Amy Lynn Deal was born on July 24, 2000 in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, just 47 minutes south of Pittsburgh. She was the daughter of Shirley Deal. Despite being married to a man named David Deal since 1996, Shirley was seeing another man at the time she conceived, so it's unclear who the little girl's biological father actually was. More on that in a bit. Now, despite the uncertain paternity, Amy's birth certificate listed. David as her father, even though he was adamant that Amy wasn't his daughter. Based on the details we're going to share, it's very likely that David was correct in this assumption. Now, prior to Amy's birth, Shirley and David had two other children, a girl and a boy.

It was after their daughter's birth that the couple separated, and Shirley took the kids and went to live with her mother in an apartment complex in nearby Dinora, Pennsylvania, which was about a short 10-minute drive southeast. Shirley and David's relationship had been described as turbulent at best. During their separation, Shirley met and began a relationship with Kenneth Greased, who also lived in the apartment complex. It was around this time that Shirley became pregnant with Amy, thus making Kenneth her possible father. According to reports, Kenneth treated the little girl as his own, and for a time Shirley and her children found some sense of normalcy. According to Kenneth. She loved to sing. We bought her a karaoke machine one year. We taught her how to ride a bike.

I have her birth certificate here at my house. However, if you've watched our channel for any length of time, you'd know in stories like these, happy endings are rare. Around 2008, David managed to convince Shirley to get back together with him. David had always been controlling, and despite how well things were going with Kenneth, Shirley decided to give their relationship another try. She left the safety of De Nora and rejoined David at his new home in Midland, Texas. There they lived with David's mother, 62-year-old Judith Deal, and his sister, 44-year-old Cynthia Stoltzman. Also residing in the home were 23-year-old Samantha and John Allen, were Cynthia's daughter and son-in-law, and upwards of a dozen children. Now, keep in mind, this is over one dozen people crammed into a three-bedroom house.

Things were extremely chaotic there. There was trash strewn all about, and the home was in a constant state of disarray. There were tents posted up around the yard to house the sheer number of people staying at the home. The children ran around unsupervised, which led to disturbances in the neighborhood and subsequent police involvement. It's important to point out that this was a rental home, and it's unclear why the landlord never intervened. What Shirley hoped could be a new beginning for the family, ultimately, and understandably, turned into a nightmare for her. According to Shirley, David's family treated her, in her own words, like a slave. She said they called her names, beat her, and deprived her of sleep, before ultimately throwing her out of the family home.

Stranded 23 hours from her mother's house in Pennsylvania and facing homelessness, Shirley relocated to Iola Kandes. to be with a man she had met online. But surprisingly, she chose to leave her children behind. According to Shirley, she didn't think that her three kids were in any danger. Despite her own mistreatment and the deplorable living conditions, she believed that home was a safe place to leave her kids while she moved out of state. Shirley maintained that David's family had never done anything to hurt her children, or at least that's what she had found.

thought. We'll be back in just one minute. Please stick around for the following ad. It not only supports the channel, but it also supports charities in our area. This week's episode has been brought to you by our friends at Proxima Design, specializing in custom handmade cat toys and accessories right here in our own state of Maine. From Catnip tacos to watermelon slices, Proxima Design has you covered. They even sell deluxe catnip crinkle bats and coffin kickers for your feline familiar. Best of all, a portion of proceeds go to help cats in need. Like Miss Marbles, who has recently done, diagnosed with diabetes. Ready to treat the tortie tap you or tuxedo baby in your life, then click the link in the description and tell them sticky sent you. Thanks and back to the

episode. Without her mother's protection, things quickly took a difficult turn for Amy. Remember, although David was legally her father, he had continuously denied paternity. This made the now eight-year-old a target for mistreatment in the crowded household. Now, this is a dynamic that I grew up with as a child. I was adopted by my sister's father when I was just two years old and given a new last name and a new family. I was too young to even remember what my life was before that. But what I do remember is a childhood where I was made to feel excluded by my extended family. It wasn't until my mid-teens when my parents divorced that I found out who I actually was. Today I have a good relationship with both my biological father's side as well as my adoptive family.

However, I'll always remember having an unhappy childhood and not understanding why grown adults treated me so unkindly. Amy soon became the family scapegoat. It has been reported that the other children in the home often instigated situations to get Amy into trouble. Scapegoating is the practice of singling out a person or group for unmerited blame and negative treatment. As we have mentioned in our previous episodes involving this topic, the term comes from, from the Bible where a scapegoat is one of a pair of kid goats that is released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities while the other goat is sacrificed. This concept first appears in the book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designated to be cast

into the desert to carry away the sins of the community, much like in a family setting where one person is blamed for all of the family's problems. Fortunately, Amy was that person who received all of the blame. At some point, and it's unclear why this was or how this came about, but Cynthia Stoltzman became Amy's legal guardian. The family also didn't remain in Midland, Texas for very long. They went on to live in different states, such as Wisconsin, Utah, and Arizona, among others. While living in Wisconsin, CPS became involved after it was found that the children were living

in what they described as disgusting conditions. It appeared that not much had changed since their days in Texas. While living in Ogden, Utah, school officials made numerous reports to CPS with regard to suspected abuse and neglect. They claimed that Amy and her siblings came to school filthy. According to school counselor Jody Hanson, it was also apparent that Amy had become the family's scapegoat, as we mentioned earlier. Now, despite this, Amy's teachers described her as a bright student who craved attention from adults. According to her second grade teacher, Jeline Boydston, something wasn't wrong. right at home. She said, Amy was treated differently. There just wasn't the affection I could feel

coming from the aunt towards Amy. And they would tell me they didn't really think Amy belonged to them. She was constantly coming to school dirty. She often had head lice. One time she came to school with cat urine on her shoes and it smelled so badly that the counselor came and cleaned her and got some shoes for her. The family eventually moved to Arizona and lived in Tucson, as well as in a rental home located on West Romley Road in Phoenix. According to neighbors, the children were often seen wandering the streets until very late at night without adult supervision. They often wore very little clothing and on occasion were without diapers or shoes. One neighbor even witnessed babies and high chairs eating in the front yard in the late evening hours without any supervision.

But this was not even the worst of it. According to the neighbors who witnessed Amy's mistreatment, the young girl was forced to walk back and forth on the sidewalk barefoot. As I'm sure many of you know, Arizona gets extremely hot, especially in the summer. So far in July of that year, temperatures outside had reached 115 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the Arizona Burn Center, during extreme heat, asphalt can be 40 to 60 degrees hotter than that of the temperature of the air. This means that the temperature of outdoor surfaces can reach as high as 175 degrees Fahrenheit. In June of 2023, the burn center released a report titled Streets of Fire, which touched on the dangers of extreme heat.

During the summer of 2022, the burn center recorded 85 patient emissions from heat-related burns. Seven of those patients died from their injuries. Many others needed ICU care and mechanical ventilation. On average, patients needed to be hospitalized for 16 days. According to Dr. Kevin Foster, if someone is on asphalt for 10 to 20 minutes, the skin is completely destroyed. extensive burns from prolonged contact often require skin grafting surgery. This information really puts what was happening to Amy into perspective. She wasn't just being abused.

She was being deliberately tortured. But this wasn't the only way that Amy was being mistreated by those who were supposed to be looking after her. Oftentimes, she was beaten with a paddle that the adults refer to as the butt buster. Other times, she was forced to consume hot sauce and dogs. Fesies. Supposedly, Amy was being punished for lying or stealing food. Now, this notion of a child stealing food is a theme that comes up over and over again in these cases, and it's utterly ridiculous to me, as if a child can steal food from their parents or guardians. Additionally, Amy was forced to sleep in a shower stall without beding because she began wetting the bed,

which is often seen in victims of severe abuse. Another running theme is the need to homeschool children as a means of hiding abuse from mandated reporters, and that is exactly what happened when the family was living in Phoenix. On July 12, 2011, police responded to a 911 call regarding a child that had been found unresponsive in small foot locker. First to arrive was Officer Salis, who was greeted by the family's Rottweiler. He and the other officers arrived at a home that was disgusting to behold. Used tampons and cockroaches littered the floor. and a thick stench wafted throughout the air. But none of that mattered when they saw Amy.

She wasn't just unresponsive. She was dead. Her body was left on a blue carpet next to a wet urine stain. Her lips matched the color of the carpet, and her skin had already started to discolored. Her body was twisted unnaturally and rigor mortis had already set in. According to the Phoenix New Times, people on the scene described Amy

as looking like one of those body casts of ancient Pompeii residents buried in ash. She looked as if she died trying to push the lid off of her in order to get free. First responders attempted CPR, but it's far too late for that. The family first told the responding officers that this was the result of a tragic accident. Amy had been playing hide-and-seek with the other children and had accidentally locked herself inside of the footlocker. Their story was that she suffocated inside unbeknownst to the adults who had already gone to sleep. All of the adults in the home claimed that they found Amy the next day dead in the trunk. Throughout their questioning, all of them remained emotionless.

But the officers were not buying any of it. They immediately suspected foul play. Amy's body was very dirty as if she hadn't bathed in some time. Her legs were also bruised due to the forced contact with a foot locker. Keep in mind, the now 10-year-old Amy was 4 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 59 pounds. There was no way she had managed to squeeze herself into a foot locker that was 3 feet long, one foot two inches wide, and one foot deep. But let's just say for the sake of argument, that Amy did manage to fit herself inside.

There was no possible way that she could then close and lock the lid. In addition, they felt that the hide-and-seek story they provided was ridiculous. After being interrogated for some time, Samantha and John Allen confessed to the unthinkable. It was 103-degree day in Phoenix, and Amy was chronically hungry, took a popsicle without permission. As punishment, she was forced to do jumping jacks, backbends, and run around in the sweltering heat for over an hour. Samantha then watched as her husband, John, stuffed Amy into the tiny foot locker, which he then padlocked shut. He kept her there overnight. According to reports, temperatures never dipped below 95 degrees.

Additionally, the other children in the home were persuaded to lie about what had actually happened to Amy. When asked why she had been treated so badly, it was said, I quote, she was mentally a little slow, but that's it. At the time of her death, Amy Lindiel was just 12 days shy of her 11th birthday. On July 27, 2011, both John and Samantha Allen were arrested and charged in connection with Amy's death. Judith Deal and Cynthia Stoltsman were arrested for CA and kidnapping, since they both admitted that in the past, they too had locked Amy in the footlocker. This wasn't just a one-time thing. It's unclear why it took over two weeks to make the arrests, especially with an admission of guilt.

All parties were held in the custody of the Maricopa County Jail. The Allens were held in a $1 million cash bond, while Judith and Cynthia were held in lieu of a $500,000 cash bond. All four defendants were scheduled to be arraigned on August 17, 2011. A few days after the arrests, Father of the Year David Deal, who at this point had not been charged in connection with his daughter's death, asked various friends and family for money to bail out his mother and sister.

However, David would eventually get his just desserts. He was later arrested and subsequently pled guilty to attempted CA and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. He's currently being housed at ASP Kingman Huachaca Unit and is due to be released on July 8th, 2024. On August 10th, 2011, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery released the following statement. He said, this horrific case has deeply disturbed not only the citizens of Maricopa County but people throughout the country as it offends the essence, what it means to be a parent or guardian of a young child. Instead of caring for Amy Deal, we are alleging that these family members utterly failed her. My office will spare no effort in seeking justice for Amy and ensuring the public has confidence in the result. That same day,

Judith Deal, Cynthia Stoltzman, John Allen, and Samantha Allen were formally indicted. The Allens were both charged with first-degree homicide, conspiracy to commit CA, and several other charges related to the abuse they inflicted upon poor Amy. Prosecutors announced they intended to seek the death penalty for the couple. On September 13, 2013, Cynthia Stoltzman took a plea deal offered by the prosecution. She pled guilty to two counts of CA and one count of attempted CA. She was sentenced to 24 years in prison, given a lifetime of probation. She is currently housed at the ASPC Perryville Santa Cruz Unit,

the projected release date of July 3, 2036. Judith Diehl pled guilty to the same charges as her daughter. It was sentenced to 10 years in prison, plus a lifetime of probation. She was housed at the ASPC Perryville San Carlos unit until her release on February 23, 2020. This week, the murder trial for a Phoenix woman accused of helping suffocate a 10-year-old girl in a plastic. box got underway. Team 12's Trisha Hendrix is in the live alert center with a recap of what unfolded in court during the Amy Deal murder trial this week. Tricia? It was a long week of intense emotion inside the courtroom, heart-wrenching details about how Amy Deal died after being locked in a box

for allegedly taking a popsicle without asking. The defendant and her husband made Amy pay with her loss. Samantha Allen is accused of helping her husband John lock their 10-year-old niece Amy in a plastic storage box and leaving her outside overnight. A padlock was put on it. Deals' body was discovered the next day. Prosecutors say the family claimed she locked herself in the box when she was playing hide-and-seek. Police reports show the Allen's admitted to locking her in the box. It was an accepted practice. The punishment happening on a hot summer day in July of 2011. The temperature's over 100 degrees. Allen's attorney said they did it at the request of Amy's aunt Cynthia Stoltzman. What she said went. The defense argued while Samantha was almost certainly guilty of child abuse, she wasn't guilty of murder.

Tuesday prosecutors showed the jury how the little girl spent her final hours with graphic images and a heartbreaking demonstration. At least one juror cried. Many others had to look away. Did you see the box? I did not see the box. Did you see Amy? All I saw was purple lips.

Prosecutors spent a house. hour with a relative name C.J. She testified she saw the abuse that happened the day before Amy died and the hours of painful backbench she was forced to do. When asked what she wasn't truthful about, finding the body in plain head and see. CJ said she never found Amy in the box. I was trying to protect my family. Prosecutors say that was all a lie and Amy was locked in that box as punishment on a regular basis. Convicted murderer Samantha Allen's mom back on the stand today as jurors get ready to weigh the death penalty. She gave more awful details of the abuse suffered by 10-year-old Amy Deal

that the family called discipline. Allen now being held accountable in Amy's death after she was locked in a box for taking a popsicle. Team 12th Charlie Edsidy is following this case and has today's testimony from the Live Alert Center. Those details difficult to hear at times, but paint a picture of the kind of abuse little Amy suffered at the hands of her own family

for the majority of her life. Cynthia Stoltzman is Amy's grandmother and was her legal guardian. She admitted on the stand to putting hot sauce in the girl's food, forcing her to sleep in the shower because she wet the bed, and also put her inside the plastic foot locker she would later die in. The prosecutor questioned the woman's use of the plastic box, which she said she put Amy in sometimes for as long as 20 minutes on at least three instances. Stoltzman denied ever seeing Samantha or her husband use the box with Amy

and said she moved the box away from the home months before the girl's death to signal that it should no longer be used. Were you ever made aware that Samantha was using the box on Amy? No. You had found out that Samantha was using the box on Amy. What would you have done? Told him not to. I already had put the box out. Describe Amy in how she was when she had come out of the box.

She was Amy. I mean, I don't know what to say. I mean, it didn't look to me like she was in any sort of disqualify. stress other than she cried because she didn't want to be in it. Stultzman is currently serving prison time for child charges connected to Amy and also said that she did not believe her daughter Samantha when she claimed that Amy was playing hide and go seek at the time she became locked inside of that box. We're in the live alert center. Charlie Ed City 12 news. After a week of deliberations on August 7th, 2017,

Samantha Allen was found guilty on all charges. to death by a lethal injection plus 74 years, which essentially was a symbolic gesture. We were unable to locate a prison listing for her. It is very likely she is being held at the ASPC Perryville Lumley unit with Arizona's other two female death row inmates, Shawna Ford and Wendy Andriano. John Allen was also found guilty on all charges, and on November 17, 2017, was sentenced to death by lethal injection. He is currently being housed on death row at the ASPC Iman Rining Unit. John and Samantha Allen have become the first married couple sentenced to death in the state of Arizona. As of the date of this recording in January of

2024, all attempts to appeal their death sentences have failed. Amy's funeral service was held at Falconer Funeral Home located on Juniper Avenue in Gilbert, Arizona. She was later cremated. Now, according to the Justice for Amy's Yale Facebook page, there has been some dispute as to who should receive the little girl's ashes. Many of her family members in Pennsylvania, including Kenneth Greased, feel that Shirley isn't entitled to them, and that she should be brought home to be buried in the family plot. It is unclear if that ever happened or what became of Amy's remains. In the wake of Amy's death, her friends hosted a popsicle social in her memory. According to reports, Shirley found out about her daughter's death on Facebook. She said, and I quote,

I trusted them with all my heart, and now it's broken. It ain't never coming back. I'm not going to be done with it until something is done. They better stay in jail. They better be in prison for life. You're messing with a baby. She was not a baby, but she was my baby. He promised me I could see her.

I never seen her in six years. It feels like it's my fault, and everybody says, no, it's not your fault. Shirley's statement is a tough one. Although she was allegedly abused by David and his family, and we don't believe in victim blaming here on this channel, she was responsible for keeping her children safe. She chose to leave her Kansas without her children, and there isn't any evidence that shows that she attempted to get her children back once she was settled. It really feels like the only people that actually cared for a little Amy were Kenneth Greased,

who still considers Amy to be his daughter to this very day. the jury that convicted her killers, and the strangers fighting to keep her memory alive in various social media groups. In close, we'd like to share with you a post from one such group. On August 18th, 2011, eight days after the indictments,

member Donna Marie made the following post. It read, Amy Lynn, I hope you're enjoying Heaven Sweet Girl, being ever so loved. I think about you every day. Although it breaks our hearts that you are gone, we know you are with Jesus now. Good night, sweet girl. We love you and miss you, still fighting for you tooth and nail.

We'll continue until justice is served for you. You will never be forgotten. Keep watching over all of your family, friends, and all of us.