Mom Pleads Guilty to Murder After 6-Year-Old Locked in Closet Dies

An Arizona mother pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on Saturday after her 6-year-old son died in March 2020 after being locked in a bedroom closet without food. Elizabeth Archibeque was charged with the boy’s father, Anthony Martinez, and his grandmother Ann Marie Martinez. All three admitted to disciplining the boy and his three siblings—ages 2, 4, and 7 years old—by locking them in the closet at their Flagstaff home without food. The 6-year-old weighed 30 pounds at the time of death, according to police. Two of the children were given to child protective services, according to the Arizona Daily Sun. Archibeque faces a potential sentence of life in prison, with her plea agreement disqualifying her from probation.