Mother pleads guilty to child abuse after locking up son in the cabinet, starving him to death
A mother from Arizona pleaded guilty to murder and child abuse charges following the death of her six-year-old son after locking him in the closet and denying him food.
Local media outlet Arizona Daily Sun reported that Elizabeth Archibeque was charged alongside the boy's father Anthony Martinez and his grandmother Ann Marie Martinez.
According to the police, they admitted to regularly locking the boy and his siblings in the closet to "discipline" them for "about a month."
The boy weighed less than 30 lbs (13.6 kg) at the time of his death in 2020, which is under the average weight for his age.
The surviving siblings, aged 2, 4, and 7, meanwhile were taken into the custody of child protective services at the time, as stated in the report.
Archibeque will be sentenced this summer (between June and September), with the possibility of facing life imprisonment.
She also reached a plea agreement with prosecutors. Based on the agreement, she's not eligible for probation. If she gets a life sentence, she won't be eligible for any kind of parole or work release, according to Arizona Daily Sun.