Maddie Clifton was an innocent eight-year-old girl who was murdered by her neighbour. The story of Maddie Clifton starts in 1998 when the eight year old is missing. The disappearance of the child alerts everyone in the town. The police, parents and public try their best to know the whereabouts of Maddie. This little girl belongs to Jacksonville Florida.
When she goes missing the entire town flocks in search of her. Also, there are cameras all over the city to find the missing child. Even after this incident, parents of Maddie did not lose hope. However, after many hours of searching Maddie was found dead in the 14-year-old Josh Philips’s house that frightens the whole town. Let us see how this murder of Maddie Clifton took place at the hand of a fourteen-year-old.
The police found a blood-filled body of Maddie under the bed
It was the police who found the corpse of eight-year-old Maddie under the bed of Josh Philips the neighbour. Josh who is a fourteen-year-old boy did admit to stabbing Maddie to death. When a police witness her corpse of Maddie, he confesses how he murdered her. Maddie and Josh were playing baseball one day. Josh smacks Maddie with the baseball and accidentally hits her with the bat to make her stop crying. However, this made-up story of Josh is just a half-truth.
The real reason behind him murdering the eight-year-old is even more horrendous. After more investigation, the police were able to get more out of this story. Smacking with a baseball or the bat did injure Maddie but not enough to kill her. She was very much alive when all this took place.
Josh took a utility Knife to stab the child that put her to death. The story is disturbing as both the victim and murderer involved in the case are underage. Plus, the fact that Josh slept on the corpse of Maddie for one week takes this case to next level. Moreover, Josh was hiding of corpse for a week while at the same time helping Maddie’s family for a week to find her.
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The brutal murder of eight-year-old Maddie Clifton
Born on 1990 Maddie Clifton belongs to Florida. During that time children playing around the neighbourhood was common. Also, this town of Maddie is a safe and secure area. One day her parents told her to play outside. This innocent child did just as her parents said. Maddie did not know what horrible thing was about to happen to her that afternoon.
On the other hand, Joshua Philips the murderer belongs to Pennsylvania. It was in the 1990s that her family Josh thought to move to Florida. Josh had a violent parent. His father Steve Philips did beat up his mother and chose violence in his presence. Steve did have drinking problems. He did not like any children in the neighbourhood visiting his house.
As an abused teen, Josh may have had a huge influence in his behaviour. Maddie asked Josh to play with him one evening. When josh did not see his parents around he thought of playing with Maddie. This normal scene suddenly took a turn into a murder scene. First, the baseball in josh’s hand hits Maddie accidentally. Maddie is 8 years old and cried after this.
But, Josh his experience with a violent father did panic at this event. He did not know what to do. Also, the fear of his parents finding out a child in their home made him injure Maddie more to stop her from shouting. Josh takes Maddie inside his house to calm her. But, he strangles her and uses the bat to hit her even harder to silence her.
Plus, when Maddie was unconscious he slides her under his water bed. It was about 5 pm when Sheila the mother of Maddie reports a missing case. Before the nighttime Josh took unconscious Maddie to slit her throat. He did not stop with this but stabbed the girl in the chest seven times. Now he took the corpse of Maddie and starts to hide it under his mattress. Soon the missing case of Maddie spread across Lakewood. The media constantly took note of every small detail about the case for over one week.
From the public to the Philip household did their part in searching for Maddie. No one was aware of what was about to unfold in this case until the end of the week. Clifton’s family was in grief. They were wrapping television in a slight hope that they will find their child. At the same time, Mellissa the mother of Josh Philips was cleaning his room. When she cleaned under his son’s bed she saw liquid leaking. When she took off the waterbed mattress witnessed a corpse under it. She immediately went to report it to the police.
The trial of Maddie Clifton Homicide case
Finding the body of Maddie Clifton in Josh’s house was a shock to the police. During this case, the police did search the Philips house three times. Further, they also got to smell something foul in their house. However, the Philips family had lots of pets and birds they thought the smell was due to the pet. The police were also going to reward 10 thousand dollars for the person who finds Maddie.
However, all this hope was long lost with her corpse found in the neighbourhood. After finding the body, the police took immediate action to arrest Josh for first-degree murder. This is a serious homicide case involving an eight-year-old girl and the also FBI did the investigation. Further, after they arrested Josh, the news about it spread like wildfire across the city. However, it was hard for many to believe that Josh Philips did the murder.
For classmates and people who know josh, he seemed normal. But, people could not digest that someone like him could have committed a murder. There was a court hearing for the case in 1999 at the time Josh was underage so Junivelle life sentence was not possible. But, the resentencing of the trial happened in 2007. The court believes with all evidence that Josh Philips is the convict and punishes him with a lifetime prison sentence.
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