Arizona Couple Allegedly Hid Son's Body Behind Wall, Claimed He Ran Away

Parents lied about son running away, admitted dumping body, police say

According to reports, a couple from Arizona concealed the corpse of their 16-year-old son behind a stone wall, while informing the authorities that the teenager had run away.

Last month, Amber-Leah Valentine and Jon Imes, aged 41, notified deputies from the Mohave County Sheriff's Office that their son had gone missing on February 25. They claimed that they had seen the 16-year-old boy for the last time at approximately 10 a.m. on February 24, according to a statement by the law enforcement agency.

On February 28, law enforcement officers were summoned to the couple's residence in Kingman, where they uncovered a gruesome finding.

A deceased white male was located wrapped in a blanket behind a stone wall,” the sheriff’s office said Monday.

 

On Saturday, the Mohave County Medical Examiner's Office conducted an autopsy on the deceased boy.

At present, a spokesperson has not replied to inquiries about the reason and circumstances of the adolescent's demise.

Valentine informed the authorities several days later that her 14-year-old daughter was being held against her will by Valentine's two roommates, and had only just been liberated. This was the first update in the case in several days.

The authorities escorted Valentine and her daughter to a nearby hospital, where Valentine confessed that she and her husband, Imes, had disposed of their 16-year-old son's remains, as per the sheriff's office statement.

"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,” sheriff’s officials further alleged. “During questioning, Jon Imes admitted to disposing of his son’s body and lying to Deputies about him running away.”

Police stated that after conducting interviews, investigators spoke to the teenage girl who alleged that one of her parents' roommates, Richard Pounds, had fired a BB gun at her eye.

The teenage girl recounted other instances of alleged mistreatment she had faced at home, which led to the Arizona Department of Child Safety intervening in the matter.

On March 2, the deputies arrested Valentine and Imes, charging them with a felony offense of abandoning/concealing a dead body. On the same day, Pounds was charged with aggravated assault and child abuse.

As per records, all three adults continue to remain in custody as of Thursday morning. While a second roommate was interrogated, they were subsequently released pending further investigation.