A couple from Arizona were among three people arrested after they allegedly told police that their 16-year-old son ran away when they’d actually discarded and hid his dead body, authorities said.
Amber-Leah Valentine, 41, and Jon Imes, 41, both of Kingman, have been charged with felony abandonment/concealment of a dead body, according to a March 6 press release from the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office.
A third person, Richard Pounds, 34, of Kingman, is facing charges of child abuse and aggravated assault in connection with the case.
According to the sheriff’s office, the boy’s parents, Valentine and Imes, called deputies on Feb. 25, claiming their 16-year-old son had run away from home after last being seen the morning before.
Three days later, deputies said they responded to Anson Smith and Indian Canyon Road in Kingman after the dead body of a male was found wrapped in a blanket behind a stone wall.
“It’s a very traveled location, so for them to put the body there, it was very strange,” a sheriff’s office official told KPHO-TV of the allegations.
Meanwhile, investigators were looking for answers as to how the teenager died.
A break in the case came on March 2, when Valentine called the sheriff’s office and claimed she had just freed a 14-year-old juvenile, who, she alleged, was being held captive by Valentine’s roommates, Pounds and another person, according to the release.
Both Valentine and the 14-year-old were taken to Kingman Regional Medical Center.
The sheriff’s office alleged that Valentine confessed that she and her husband, Imes, had dumped their 16-year-old son’s body at the location where deputies recovered his remains.
“She admitted that she lied to Deputies when they reported him as a runaway and acknowledged that he was already deceased at the time of the report,” the release states. “During questioning, Jon Imes admitted to disposing of his son’s body and lying to Deputies about him running away.”
During an interview with detectives at the hospital, the 14-year-old alleged that Pounds shot her in the eye with a BB gun and explained that this was one of many times she had experienced abuse in the home, according to the sheriff’s office.
The child is now in the custody of the Arizona Department of Child Safety, authorities say.
Deputies said they arrested and charged Valentine and Imes after serving a search warrant at the couple’s home. Investigators also questioned the roommates, but only Pounds was charged.
More charges are expected to be filed after final autopsy results determine the teen’s cause of death, authorities said.
All three suspects are being held in the Mohave County Adult Detention Facility. It was not immediately clear if any of them had entered a plea or retained an attorney.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
