Identification request (Maddie Clifton/Josh Phillips)

[wiseguy182]

I recall seeing this case on a show back in the mid 2000's I think, but perhaps earlier. It was about a boy, around 12, who had killed a young girl, I'm guessing between 4-6, and hid the body in his room, I think he stuffed her under a mattress or under his bed. It was actually several days before she was found. The two had been neighbors and semi-friends I think, or they were before that tragedy happened.

Does anyone know names or even the show this aired on? Any info at all appreciated.

thanks!

[TracyLynnS]

I've been thinking about this case ever since you posted the info. I remember watching a television program about it, but I don't remember the names and can't find it online.

I did a short search the investigation discovery channel website to see if it was on one of their programs. TruTV might be another place to try. I'm pretty sure I saw a rerun of this about 3 years ago.

You've probably seen me complaining about my terrible memory, so the following may not be to be too helpful: What I do recall (and this could definitely be a mixture of more than one case so keep that in mind) the boy was around 12 and the girl about 6-8 years old. I think they lived across the street from each other. The girl may have been missing for nearly a week when the boy's room was searched. Seems like someone noticed the smell and the mom or dad or someone who was not a police official first saw the murdered girl's foot under the boy's bed (but then for some reason, I was thinking she was in his closet, so this is goofed up info). I forgot the motive, too. I think they were playing on the boy's backyard patio when he got mad at her for being noisy or bugging him about playing when he didn't want to.

Does this spark any other memories for anyone?

When we finally remember which case this is, I'll be interested to see how inaccurate my details are.

[TracyLynnS]

I looked through the episode guide for Forensic Files on the trutv website. It wasn't any of those, but they only have seasons 4-10 listed and listings for the first few seasons don't seem complete.

Nothing similar to this case was in the Young Killers section of the crime library.

[crystaldawn]

I've seen this case too but am not sure whether it was on FF or some other true crime show. Could this be the case?

http://www.cnn.com/US/9907/07/florid....02/index.html

[RobinW]

This is the case you're thinking of. It instantly popped into my head because I just saw it profiled on the TV special, "Too Young to Kill: 15 Shocking Crimes".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Phillips_(murderer)

What a stupid, senseless crime! The kid had injured the young girl and because he thought that would get him trouble with his domineering father, he thought the best solution was to kill her and hide the body under his bed! I at least have to give credit to his mother for calling the police after she discovered the body, as I'm sure some parents might have been tempted to dispose of it and help cover up the child crime, and that poor girl's family might have never gotten closure.

[undertakeress]

Originally Posted by RobinW

This is the case you're thinking of. It instantly popped into my head because I just saw it profiled on the TV special, "Too Young to Kill: 15 Shocking Crimes".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Phillips_(murderer)

What a stupid, senseless crime! The kid had injured the young girl and because he thought that would get him trouble with his domineering father, he thought the best solution was to kill her and hide the body under his bed! I at least have to give credit to his mother for calling the police after she discovered the body, as I'm sure some parents might have been tempted to dispose of it and help cover up the child crime, and that poor girl's family might have never gotten closure.

Yup, thats the show and case I was going to say...He played video games and everythign with her body under the bed. Sad sad

[wiseguy182]

I just watched a 48 hours episode that had a segment on this, though it wasn't the full case.

I agree that what happened to Maddie was horrible and senseless. However, I believe that Josh is genuinely sorry for what happened. I watched his interview and he couldn't stop crying, and those were real tears. It doesn't seem right that Florida lets Franklin Smith, Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman go, but gives 14 year old Josh Phillips a life sentence without parole.

It should be noted that two of the officials behind his sentence are now doubting themselves, and the U.S. Supreme Court deemed that giving life sentences to juveniles is unconstitutional (this was 2 years ago). Josh has also stated that he wanted and needed counseling. He was 15 years old when he was put in the ADULT prison population. Thankfully, he said he was never sexually abused.

Although I can't understand or have explanations for some of his actions the night of the murder, I think he was worried about what his own father would do to him after Josh had accidentally hit Maddie. The father sounded like a real ass.

Maddie seemed like a sweet girl and didn't deserve this. But I think multiple lives were ruined out of this.

[TracyLynnS]

I didn't even know it was legal to put a 15 year old into adult prison. How did they justify doing that? Did they keep him segregated from the general population until he was 18?

[wiseguy182]

The father actually had the gall to partly blame Maddie: "If she wouldn't have come over, none of this would have happened." Gah, what a tool. I think there's a reason Josh feared him. He sounds like an uber-strict, completely unlikeable person. He died in a car accident in 2000. Good riddance.

It should be noted that Josh had no history of violence prior to this, and was known as a good kid. I think he probably had some mental issues that are still undiagnosed to this day.

[wiseguy182]

I managed to trade for the regular, full episode of this.

While Josh did not suffer any abuse from his parents, it was stated that Josh's father had a tendency to pound his fist in his hands (a threatening gesture) and had threatened to disown Josh on a couple of occasions, which I assume was over minor incidents. Both Josh's parents and teachers said that he never got in trouble, he had no run-ins with the law, nothing. Not a speck of trouble anywhere. I won't pretend to know everything that went on in that household, but it was stated that the parents didn't let Josh out of the house when they were away (except to do chores), nor was he allowed to have anyone over. That seems very strange to me. I don't know why they would keep a 14 year old caged up when he didn't get in any trouble.

The trial was a joke. The defense consisted of nothing more than closing arguments. No witnesses were called, not even a medical expert who could have testified that the lesions in Josh's brain affected his thinking. The jury only took 2 hours to send a 15 year old to prison for the rest of his life without parole. The judge also acted inappropriately, I believe, as he told Josh after he was found guilty that God would impose a far stricter sentence on him when he passed on. Telling this to a child who was just put away for the rest of his life, seems inappropriate to me.

It was later learned that just prior to Maddie's death, that Josh had viewed violent pornography on his computer. Now I can't condone that, especially since he wasn't old enough to view said materials, but some believe it may have been a trigger for the violent incident that occured later. Being that the parents essentially kept him locked up in the house all the time, they shouldn't have been too surprised he would resort to that kind of thing.

Again, I can't explain or condone Josh's actions (how he thought he'd get away with having a dead body under his bed is beyond me, it must have smelled after awhile). But it seems like he got dealt a pretty crappy hand by everyone involved in this. And I do feel really bad for Maddie. She reminds me of one of my nieces.

[pril0003]

Where can I find the 48 hours full episode? Would like to view this. I have seen too young to kill.

[BeautyOfTheDay]

So many questions-thanks to wiseguy182 for some of the answers. This also need to be brought into consideration.
Such as:
1. His own lawyer (along with judge Arnold) was an enormous *****. Never really informing the Phillips' of what they legally could do concerning Josh's case. To top it off he would only occasionally see Josh and when he did it was to play f_ucking chess with him!

2. I have only read this once in an article and have never seen/heard of it anywhere else. The article in question stated that once Josh was brought home by the police in a squad car. His father supposedly blew up at him for this. It also said that Josh had stolen $300 from his mother and used her credit card to buy a game console, I think. Why weren't these two incidents alone brought up elsewhere?

3. He owned a freaking BEAGLE. I don't know much about this particular breed of dog but I do know that they can be tenacious when they smell something. Josh could have dropped a dead fish behind his bed and the dog would have zeroed in on it. The only real reason that I can think of as to why it took a while for the cops to find Maddie's body is that Josh probably kept his bedroom door closed.

4. And for those that say that Josh was never abused; I personally suspect that if it was anything he suffered it might have been emotional abuse WHICH IS ABUSE! I find this factor extremely frustrating because it was never looked into.

[wiseguy182]

This has been airing a lot lately. Comes on again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday on TLC (channel 183 for fellow Dish Network subscribers) if anyone wants to see it.