Heather Leavell Keaton Women On Death Row

Heather Leavell Keaton Women On Death Row

Heather Leavell Keaton is on Alabama Death Row for the murders of two young children. According to court documents Leavell Keaton and her common law husband John DeBlase murdered the first child in March 2010, the ten year old child strangled to death after she was duct taped and placed in a closet. The second child was murdered in June 2010 when he was duct taped to a broom handle and placed in the closet. Both of the children would be later buried in the backyard. According to witnesses the two children were murdered after asking about their biological mother which enraged Heather. Both Heather and her common law husband John DeBlase would be convicted on both murders and sentenced to death.

Heather Leavell Keaton 2019 Information

Inmate: KEATON, HEATHER LEAVELL
AIS: 0000Z801
  
Institution: TUTWILER DEATH ROW

Heather Leavell Keaton Other News

Heather Leavell Keaton, the stepmother suspected in the deaths of Natalie and Chase DeBlase who authorities say were buried in the woods, was returning to Alabama Friday from a Kentucky jail to face charges along with her common-law husband.

According to Louisville Metro Corrections spokeswoman Pam Windsor, Leavell-Keaton was being held at a Louisville jail on abuse charges before she was picked up around 1:00 a.m. Friday to be transferred back to Mobile, Ala.

The children’s father, John DeBlase, 27, told authorities that he dumped his 5-year-old daughter Natalie in the woods north of Mobile in March and discarded 3-year-old Chase’s body, dressed in only a diaper and stuffed into a plastic garbage bag, in Mississippi in June.  Authorities believe the skeletal remains found in the woods of rural Mississippi Wednesday are those of the little boy, but they’re conducting tests to confirm the identity. Natalie’s body has yet to be found.

DeBlase is charged with two counts of murder, child abuse and corpse abuse in their deaths.

Police aren’t ready yet to charge Leavell-Keaton with killing either of the children, but arrest warrants in the case accuse her of abusing the young children.

According to documents, between March 1 and November 19, 2010, DeBlase allowed Leavell-Keaton to bind the girl’s hands and feet with duct tape, put a sock in her mouth and stuff her in a suitcase in a closet for about 14 hours, reports CBS affiliate WKRG.

The warrants also detail how Leavell-Keaton duct-taped the young boy’s hands to the side of his legs, strapped a broom handle to his back and shoved a sock in his mouth. The boy was then forced to stand in a corner all night while the adults went to bed.

Investigators only began searching for the bodies of Chase and Natalie just weeks ago, but police say they were last seen in March and June, respectively. Their disappearance wasn’t reported until Leavell-Keaton sought a protective order against DeBlase in Kentucky, according to Mobile police officer Chris Levy.

She said in the Nov. 18 filing that DeBlase “may have murdered his children,” and that she feared for her life because he was abusive. The couple just had a child together this summer.

“I am afraid that he is going to do something to harm our daughter because of what he as done to the other children,” she wrote.

Both DeBlase and Leavell-Keaton have accused each other for the children’s deaths.

“He’s placing the blame on Heather, and Heather’s placing the blame on him,” said Levy. “Both of them are ultimately responsible for the deaths.”

DeBlase pleaded not guilty to the lesser charges Wednesday and is due in court again Friday for a bond hearing on the murder charges. His attorney, Jim Sears, said DeBlase will plead not guilty to those charges as well.

Heather Leavell Keaton More News

Arrest warrants describe the horrific abuse two young children allegedly suffered at the hands of their father and his girlfriend, including stuffing one of the children into a suitcase for 14 hours, before the children were allegedly killed by their dad.

As the grim details surrounding the children’s death surface, police have announced they believe they found the remains of 3-year-old Chase DeBlase, allegedly dumped in the Mississippi woods by his father, John Deblase, in March.

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Police are also scouring woods in rural Alabama for the body of 5-year-old Natalie DeBlase, who police allege was killed and discarded by her father in June.

The arrest warrant details bizarre punishments allegedly devised for the children. It charges DeBlase with allowing his girlfriend, Heather Leavell-Keaton, to create a night-long torture for Chase while the parents went to bed.

“Allowing Heather Leavell-Keaton (his girlfriend) to duck-tape the childs hands to the side of his legs, tape a broom handle to his back, placing a sock in his mouth and duck-taping it to his mouth, then making the child stand in a corner all night when they went to bed,” the warrant says.

Police have not yet given a cause of death for Chase or Natalie although they believe the abuse played a major factor.

“We have not determined cause of death,” Assistant District Attorney Joe Beth Murphree told ABC News. “Remains found yesterday and the medical examiner is looking at remains at this time. Even if exact cause cannot be determine we believe homicide can still be proved.”

According to police Natalie was not spared the monstrous abuse doled out by DeBlase and Leavell-Keaton, his girlfriend since 2008.

A separate arrest warrant outlines that DeBlase allegedly allowed Leavell-Keaton to “duck-tape” Natalie’s hands and feet before stuffing her in a suitcase.

“Duck-tape the child’s hands and feet, place a sock in her mouth, place her inside a black suitcase and leave it inside a closet from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m.,” the warrant says.

Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd said that Chase’s body was stuffed inside a black garbage bag, wearing only a diaper, by his father close to the road because DeBlase allegedly didn’t want to get lost on his way back to his vehicle.

According to police little Chase DeBlase’s remains stayed hidden there for over six months, and for Mobile Police Officer Chris Levy, that’s one of the most troubling parts of this story.

“The fact for six months a child was dead and nobody reported it. For six months,” Levy said to ABC News today.

Levy said the birth mother and grandparents of the children have been questioned as to why they didn’t report the children missing, and according to him they gave reasons, “no good reasons,” though he said.

Equally as troubling, Levy said detectives later found a number neighbors and associates of DeBlase and Leavell-Keaton who claimed they witnessed the children being abused numerous times.

“We have all these people coming forward now who say they saw them hit the children with objects, they say they saw burns on the children that required medical attention, and nobody called the police. Where were those people a year ago when these children were actually in danger?” Levy said.

DeBlase has been charged with two-counts of murder. He has not yet entered a plea and does not yet have a lawyer. Leavell-Keaton is in jail in Kentucky, arrested on child-abuse charges, may be extradited to Alabama today, Murphree said.

Leavell-Keaton may face more serious charges.

“It’s a very intense investigation going 24/7. If murder charges can be brought, they will be brought,” Murphree said.

Police say DeBlase and Leavell-Keaton, who have an infant daughter together, are blaming each other for killing the children. Their surviving child is currently in protective custody, according to police.

According to police documents, the grisly story came to the attention of police on Nov. 18 when a family member of Leavell-Keaton allegedly told police she feared the children were dead, a report from the Louisville Police Department states.

Police contacted Leavell-Keaton, and began interviewing neighbors of associates of the couple. The report says at that point she requested a restraining order against DeBlase out of fear he may harm their infant daughter.

“I am afraid that he is going to do something to harm our daughter,” the statement says.

“I feel he may have murdered his children because he said that they were nonresponsive,” Leavell-Keaton allegedly told police according to the report.

“Choices were made this morning, and he had to do what he had to do,” Heather Leavell Keaton told police DeBlase said to her, according to the report.

According to police, the couple had moved to Louisville from Mobile several months ago.

Officer Carey Klain of the Louisville Police told ABC News that as they filed Heather Leavell Keaton’s request for a restraining order and took down her report on the children, detectives from Mobile spoke to several people who indicated they witnesses her abuse the children on numerous occasions. At that point Levy said she was arrested on charges of child abuse.

Klain said her department placed Heather Leavell Keaton in custody and the Mobile police triggered a national missing children’s report as they began to try to locate DeBlase and the children.

DeBlase was picked up on Dec. 2 in Florida. According to a report out of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s office, DeBlase had been staying in Florida with friend Randall Melville since Nov. 30.

Mellville says he received a phone call from an associate who, according to the police report, told Melville he saw a television report about DeBlase being wanted in connection with the disappearance of his children.

“Melville said he asked John about this information which John then got up yelling ‘I didn’t do it,’ and left the residence,” the police report states.

DeBlase was picked up by police a short time later, and he again allegedly blurted out to the officers, “I didn’t do it,” the report says.

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Heather Leavell Keaton More News

A woman sentenced to die by a Mobile County jury will be headed back to court later this month after her sentence was overturned.

Heather Leavell-Keaton, the first woman in Mobile County history to be sent to death row, will face a hearing Oct. 13 in Mobile County Circuit Court where she will be resentenced for her 2015 capital murder conviction.

Leavell-Keaton, along with her common-law husband John DeBlase, were convicted of torturing and killing his two children, four-year-old Natalie and three-year-old Chase, in 2010.

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals Tuesday ruled that Leavell-Keaton did not have a chance to address the court prior to her sentencing back in 2015. Leavell-Keaton displayed no emotion during her sentencing, according to a report at the time.

“To be clear, the trial court is not to hold a full capital-conviction sentencing hearing, which has already occurred,” the court ruled. Instead, the court will allow her to speak, take into consideration anything she may say, and sentence her to either death or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, the court ruled.

According to prosecutors, Natalie was choked to death in March 2010 after being duct-taped and placed in a suitcase which was set in a closet for 12 hours. Her body was later dumped in a wooded area near Citronelle.

Chase was choked to death in June 2010 when he was taped to a broom handle and left in the corner of the couple’s bedroom overnight. His body was found in the woods outside Vancleave, Miss.

Prosecutors claimed that Leavell-Keaton was jealous of Natalie and bristled when friends and family members called her a princess. Chase was killed when he asked where Natalie was

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Heather Leavell Keaton 2021

Heather Leavell Keaton is currently incarcerated at the TUTWILER DEATH ROW the home of Alabama’s Death Row for women

Why Is Heather Leavell Keaton On Death Row

Heather Leavell Keaton was convicted of the murders of two children

Patricia Blackmon Women On Death Row

patricia blackmon women on death row

Patricia Blackmon is on death row in Alabama for the murder of a child. According to court documents Patricia called 911 to report that a child was not breathing. When emergency personal arrived on the scene they were shocked by what they scene. The child who was not breathing was covered in vomit and was wearing blood soaked socks. Once the child was brought to the hospital doctors noticed a very high number of both new and old injuries and called the police. Patricia Blackmon would be found guilty of both murder and felony child abuse and would be sentenced to death

Patricia Blackmon 2022 Information

Inmate: BLACKMON, PATRICIA
AIS: 0000z685
  
Institution: TUTWILER DEATH ROW

Patricia Blackmon Other News

The State’s evidence tended to show that on May 29, 1999, Patricia Blackmon telephoned emergency 911 to summon paramedics to her mobile home in Dothan.   Patricia Blackmon told the 911 operator that her child was not breathing.   Eddie Smith, a paramedic in Dothan, testified that he arrived at Patricia Blackmon’s mobile home at around 9:30 p.m. and that he found Dominiqua lying on the floor of the master bedroom-she was wearing only a diaper and blood-soaked socks, was covered in vomit, and was not breathing.   There was a hematoma on her forehead and blood on her chest.   After the paramedics attempted to revive her, she was transported to Flowers Hospital Emergency Room.


Dr. Matthew Krista testified that he treated Dominiqua when she was brought to the emergency room.   He said that he first established an airway but that at 10:22 p.m. she was pronounced dead. Dominiqua’s pediatrician, Dr. Robert Head, was also called to the emergency room.   Both doctors testified that the child had multiple bruises and contusions and an imprint of the sole of a shoe on her chest.1  They also said that they observed marks from previous injuries on her body.


Dr. Alfredo Parades, the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy, testified that Dominiqua died of multiple blunt-force injuries to her head, chest, abdomen, and extremities-he detailed some 30 injuries that he discovered on the child’s body.   Dr. Parades testified:
“She has bruises in the front part of the lower chest and upper abdomen.   Bruises around the right groin.   She has a fracture, this is the fracture of the leg.   And, on her side, she has bruises on the left temporal area above the ear.   She has bruises on ․ the ear on the left.   She had a bruise on the right cheek area.   She had a bruise on the side of the heel and foot area.   Then on the back, she had multiple bruises on the lower back, bilaterally.   That is both sides.   Bruises of the buttocks, bruises behind the knee area and below the knee area.   And in addition to that, she had numerous linear, what I describe as in parallel, like a train tack.   There were numerous injuries with a pale area in between ․ the left buttock area.”



Parades also said that Dominiqua had two broken bones and many other injuries that were in various stages of healing.   Parades also described many internal injuries.   He said that Dominiqua also had an imprint of the sole of a shoe on her chest.


Dr. James Downs, chief medical examiner for the State of Alabama, testified that he compared the sandals Patricia Blackmon was wearing on the day of the murder with the scanned image of the victim’s chest, and it was his opinion that the imprint on Dominiqua’s chest was consistent with the sole of the sandals.   Downs also testified that it was his opinion that Dominiqua’s recent injuries were consistent with having been made by a pool cue.


There was testimony indicating that Patricia Blackmon had adopted Dominiqua approximately nine months before she was killed.   Testimony also showed that Patricia Blackmon had sole charge of the child from the time her father-in-law saw the two of them earlier on the evening of the murder until the time of the child’s death.   Wayne Johnson, Blackmon’s father-in-law, testified that on the night Dominiqua was killed he saw Dominiqua and she was playing and acting normal.   He said that Patricia Blackmon and Dominiqua left his house at around 8:00 p.m.
A search of Patricia Blackmon’s mobile home revealed several blood-splattered items.   Forensic tests revealed the presence of blood on a broken pool cue, a child’s T-shirt, a pink flat bed sheet, a quilt, and two napkins.   The blood matched Dominiqua’s blood.


Patricia Blackmon called several witnesses to testify in her defense.   Judy Whatley, an employee of the Department of Human Resources, said that she had had contact with Dominiqua and Patricia Blackmon once a month for five months before August 1998 and that she noticed that the two had a good relationship.   Tammy Freeman, Blackmon’s neighbor, testified that she frequently left her children with Patricia Blackmon.


The jury convicted Patricia Blackmon of capital murder.   A separate sentencing hearing was held, at which the State relied on the aggravating circumstance that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel to support a death sentence.   After the sentencing hearing the jury, by a vote of 10 to 2, recommended that Patricia Blackmon be sentenced to death.

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Patricia Blackmon 2021

Patricia Blackmon is currently incarcerated at the TUTWILER DEATH ROW the home of Alabama Death Row For Women

Why Is Patricia Blackmon On Death Row

Patricia Blackmon was convicted of the murder of a child

Patricia Blacmon Other News

The attorney for a Dothan woman who beat and stomped her adopted daughter to death argued before the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals Tuesday that she does not deserve the death penalty.

A Houston County judge sentenced Patricia Blackmon to death for the May 1999 capital murder of 2-year old Dominique Bryant. The judge ruled that Bryant’s death was especially heinous, atrocious and cruel, which qualified Blackmon for the death penalty. Bryant’s body sustained numerous injuries, including a fractured skull. The little girl was stomped with such force that an imprint from a shoe was left on her chest. Blackmon attorney Clark M. Parker told the appellate court today that the medical examiner who testified in the case could not say to a medical certainty that Bryant was conscious during the beating.

If that was the case, then she could not have been under emotional stress to merit the “heinous, atrocious and cruel” guidelines for the death penalty to be imposed. Arguing for the state, Stephen Shows said the evidence showed that Bryant suffered greatly before she died. Bryant had injuries on both her front and back, which Shows said proves that she was struggling to get away while she was being beaten.

https://www.wsfa.com/story/1409057/dothan-woman-appeals-her-death-penalty-conviction/

Tierra Capri Gobble Women On Death Row

Tierra Capri Gobble Women On Death Row

Tierra Capri Gobble is on Alabama death row for the murder of a child. According to court documents Tierra Capri Gobble had her first three children taken from her by child services because of abuse and her fourth child was given to family members with the instructions not to allow Gobble to have access to the child. Well the family members allowed Tierra Capri Gobble to take the child and when the infant was just four months old she would beat the child to death. At trial she would be convicted of the murder and sentenced to death

Tierra Capri Gobble 2021 Information

tierra capri gobble 2021 photos
Inmate: GOBBLE, TIERRA CAPRI
AIS: 0000Z719
  
Institution: TUTWILER DEATH ROW

Tierra Capri Gobble Other News

Tierra Capri Gobble, was convicted of murdering her four-month-old son Phoenix Parrish, an offense defined as capital by § 13A-5-40 (a)(15), Ala.Code 1975, because Phoenix was under the age of 14. The jury recommended, by a vote of 10 to 2, that Gobble be sentenced to death. The circuit court followed the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Tierra Capri Gobble to death.


The State’s evidence established the following. On December 15, 2004, Phoenix was rushed to the emergency room of the Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan. He was not breathing and had no pulse. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead shortly after he was brought to the hospital. The autopsy showed that Phoenix died as a result of blunt-force trauma to his head-Phoenix’s skull had been fractured. Phoenix had numerous other injuries, including fractured ribs, a fracture to his right arm, fractures to both wrists, multiple bruises on his face, head, neck, and chest and a tear in the inside his mouth that was consistent with a bottle having been shoved into his mouth.


Tierra Capri Gobble gave birth to Phoenix on August 8, 2004, in Plant City, Florida. The child was taken from her custody by the Florida Department of Children and Families (“DCF”) within 24 hours after his birth because of DCF’s involvement with Gobble’s first child, Jewell, who was 18 months old at the time of Phoenix’s death. Jewell had been removed from Tierra Capri Gobble’s custody in December 2003 by the Florida Department of Children and Families (“DCF”) and placed with her paternal uncle-Edgar Parrish. At the time of Phoenix’s death Tierra Capri Gobble was under a court order to have no contact with her children.2 However, Tierra Capri Gobble and her boyfriend, Samuel David Hunter, moved in with Phoenix, Parrish, and Walter Jordan in October 2004. In October 2004, Gobble signed an affidavit stating her intent to terminate her parental rights. On December 2, 2004, proceedings were initiated to terminate Tierra Capri Gobble’s parental rights.




In the early morning hours of December 15, 2004, Tierra Capri Gobble was having trouble getting Phoenix to go to sleep because he was “fussin.” At around 1:00 a.m. Tierra Capri Gobble went to feed him. After he finished his bottle, she put him back in his crib. At around 9:00 a.m. Gobble checked on Phoenix and found him playing. Tierra Capri Gobble went back to sleep and awoke at approximately 11:00 a.m. When she went to check on Phoenix she discovered that he was not breathing. Tierra Capri Gobble called Jordan, who was also in the trailer that morning. Jordan went to get Parrish, who was nearby. Parrish returned to the trailer and telephoned emergency 911. When paramedics arrived, Phoenix was unresponsive, and they rushed him to a local hospital.


Dr. Jonas R. Salne, the emergency room doctor who treated Phoenix at Southeast Alabama Medical Center, testified that “[Phoenix] had bruises, contusions, on his face, scalp, and chest. They were everywhere.” (R. 436.) The x-rays showed that Phoenix had a skull fracture, fractures to both wrists, and a fracture to his right upper arm. Dr. Salne testified that it takes “quite a bit of trauma and quite a bit of force” to fracture a skull. (R. 441.) The autopsy report, admitted by agreement of the parties, showed that Phoenix also had fractures to several of his ribs. Dr. Salne testified that Phoenix would have been in tremendous pain from any of the numerous injuries.


Officer Tracy McCord of the Houston County Sheriff’s Department testified that Gobble was taken into custody several hours after Phoenix was taken to the hospital and was questioned by police. Gobble told McCord that she Phoenix’s primary caretaker even though Parrish was his guardian, that she would occasionally get frustrated with him when he would not go to sleep, that she could have broken his ribs from holding him too tightly, and that when she was holding Phoenix she leaned down in the crib to get his blanket quickly and Phoenix’s head might have struck the side of the crib at that time.

Tori Jordan testified that she had known Gobble for about two or two and one half years and that she had periodically babysat for Jewell over a period of about five months. She said that Gobble had told her that “if she couldn’t have [her children], no one could.” (R. 256.)


Gobble testified in her own defense and portrayed Hunter as abusive and domineering. She also testified that she was the primary caretaker for the children, that she was under a court order to not be around her children, and that several days before his death she noticed that Phoenix had bruises on his body, but, she said, she did not do anything because she was scared. Gobble further testified that she was the only person to have contact with Phoenix for the 10 hours immediately preceding his death. She did not telephone 911 when she realized he was not breathing, she said, because she did not want to get into trouble. During her cross-examination, the State introduced a letter written by Gobble in which she wrote that she was responsible for Phoenix’s death. In the letter Gobble writes: “It’s my fault that my son died but I didn’t mean for it [to] happen.” (C.1979.)


The jury convicted Tierra Capri Gobble of capital murder. A presentence report was prepared and a separate sentencing hearing was held. The jury recommended, by a vote of 10 to 2, that Tierra Capri Gobble be sentenced to death. The circuit court followed the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Gobble to death. This appeal, which is automatic in a case involving the death penalty, followed. See § 13A-5-53(a), Ala.Code 1975.
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Tierra Capri Gobble

Tierra Capri Gobble

Tierra Capri Gobble 2021

Tierra Capri Gobble is currently incarcerated at the TUTWILER DEATH ROW the home of Alabama Death Row For Women

Why Is Tierra Capri Gobble On Death Row

Tierra Capri Gobble was convicted of the murder of her four month old son

Sammantha Uriarte Allen Women On Death Row

Sammantha Uriarte Allen Women On Death Row

Sammantha Uriarte Allen is on death row in Arizona along with her husband John Allen. According to court documents Sammantha and John Allen would put a ten year old girl into a plastic tub and closed the lid. The little girl would die from overheating. Apparently the reason for this barbaric punishment is that the little girl took a couple of ice pops without asking. When the forensic pathologist was examining the child he found signs of old injuries and police would uncover a long series of abuses that was inflicted on the child. The two would be convicted of child abuse and murder and sentenced to death

Arizona Death Row Inmate List

Sammantha Uriarte Allen 2021 Information

Last Name First Name Middle Initial URIARTE SAMMANTHA E
Gender Height (inches)Weigh tHair Color FEMALE 63 150 BLOND
Eye ColorEthnic Origin Custody Class Admission GREEN CAUCASIAN Close/Moderate 08/07/2017
Projected Eligible Release Date Prison Release DateRelease Type Death SENTENCE EXPIRATION
Most Recent Location As of Date Complex Unit Last Movement Status PERRYVILLEAS PC-PV LUMLEY UNIT 08/25/2021 ACTIVE

Sammantha Uriarte Allen

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In the end, the jurors felt they had no choice but to sentence Sammantha Allen to death for the brutal 2011 murder of her 10-year-old cousin, Ame Deal.

Sammantha Uriarte Allen had been on trial in Maricopa County Superior Court since May, one of four family members charged with disciplining the girl by forcing her to do exercise in sweltering July heat and then locking her in a 31-inch-long footlocker overnight.

“The pictures of the victim stayed in our minds,” said juror Ann Ospeth. “I think the thing for us was the victim and all the things her life entailed.”

It demanded a death penalty, the jurors agreed.

“We were following what the law stated,” said juror Amanda Heath.

And indeed the jurors felt that Allen should be punished to the max.

They also found aggravating factors for the four underlying child-abuse counts against Allen, which allowed the judge to impose harsher sentences for those charges.



Superior Court Judge Teresa Sanders sentenced Sammantha to an additional four consecutive sentences totaling 76 years for those crimes. She was given credit for more than 2,000 days she has already spent in custody.

Sammantha was found guilty June 26. Then the jury deliberated for a week over whether there were mitigating factors that would allow Sammantha Allen to avoid the death penalty and instead be sentenced to life in prison.

They considered her age, her dysfunctional upbringing and the fact that she had no prior criminal record. But they determined the horror of the crime outweighed all of those.

Sammantha Uriarte Allen remains on death row

Sammantha Allen More News

A Phoenix woman was sentenced to death Monday in the killing of her 10-year-old cousin who was locked in a small plastic storage box and left to die.

Sammantha Uriarte Allen is one of just dozens of female death-row inmates in the United States.

The jury reached the verdict after Allen, 29, was convicted in June of first-degree murder and four counts of child abuse in the 2011 killing of Ame Deal, who was punished for stealing an ice pop.

Sammantha Uriarte Allen held her head in her hand and wept as the verdict was read and later cried and hugged her attorneys before she was led out of the courtroom.

“Lack of remorse was the biggest thing that played into it for us, that we didn’t see that from Sammantha throughout the whole process,” juror Anne Schaad told CBS affiliate KPHO-TV.

Allen will become the 55th woman condemned to die nationwide. There are only two other women on death row in Arizona, which is among the states struggling to buy execution drugs after pharmaceutical companies began blocking the use of their products in lethal injections.

In comparison, nearly 2,800 men are facing executions in the U.S., according to an April report by the NAACP that’s used by the Death Penalty Information Center.

In Allen’s case, authorities said she and her husband are responsible for making Ame get into the box, where she was left and found dead six or seven hours later.

The girl’s death was the culmination of a history of abuse that a handful of relatives heaped on her, authorities say.

Ame was forced to eat dog feces, crush aluminum cans barefoot, consume hot sauce and get in the storage box on other occasions. She also was kicked in the face, beaten with a wooden paddle and forcibly dunked after being thrown in a cold swimming pool, investigators said.

Adults at the home originally claimed Ame hid during a late-night game of hide-and-seek and wasn’t found until hours later. Three other relatives are in prison serving sentences for abusing Ame.

Allen’s husband, John Allen, 29, is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 9. He’s has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and child abuse and also faces the death penalty.

Sammantha Allen’s mother, Cynthia Stoltzmann, who also was Ame’s legal guardian, is serving a 24-year prison sentence for a child abuse conviction.

Child welfare authorities in Arizona said they didn’t receive any reports of abuse before her death. But child welfare reports from Utah, where the family lived before moving to Phoenix, listed Ame as an abused child, police said.

The verdict comes after executions in Arizona were put on hold following the 2014 death of a prisoner who was given 15 doses of a two-drug combination before he died in what his attorney called a botched execution.

But the state is now able to resume executions after a lawsuit that challenged the way Arizona carries out the death penalty was settled earlier this summer. No executions are scheduled.

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Sammantha Uriarte Allen Photos

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Sammantha Uriarte FAQ

Sammantha Uriarte Allen 2021

Sammantha Uriarte is currently incarcerated at the ASPC Perryville, Lumley Unit the home of Arizona Death Row for Women

Why Is Sammantha Uriarte On Death Row

Sammantha Allen was convcited of the murder of a ten year old girl

Wendi Andriano Women On Death Row

Wendi Andriano Women On Death Row

Wendi Andriano husband became ill and he was unable to work and soon thereafter she decided that she did not want to take care of him and decided her best course was to kill him. According to court documents Andriano would ask friends to pose as her husband in order to take out life insurance policies and she spent her free time researching how to kill her computer online.

Eventually Wendi would start adding powerful medication capsules to his coffee and on the day he would die she would call the ambulance saying her husband was having a heart attack however when they showed up she turned them away. Wendi would call the ambulance back later in the day after she struck him several times with a blunt object and stabbed him in the neck. Wendi Andriano claimed abuse at her trial however none of her friends or family saw any indication of abuse. Andriano would be convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

Arizona Death Row Inmate List

Wendi Andriano 2021 Information

Wendi Andriano
ADC#:191593Inmate Name:ANDRIANO, WENDI E.
Comments:Wendi Andriano’s husband became seriously ill and had to cease working. Allegedly resentful of her responsibilities, Wendi Andriano began frequenting bars and engaging in extramarital affairs. As her discontent increased, she hatched a scheme to kill her husband and profit from his death. She asked her friends if they would pose as her husband so that she could obtain a life insurance policy.

She researched the effects of various poisons and how to obtain them discreetly. Andriano ordered poison and had it sent to a separate business. Although Andriano claimed that she was physically and psychologically abused by her husband, none of her friends ever observed any signs of abuse. Andriano began slipping sodium azide capsules to her husband.

In the early morning hours of October 8, 2000, Andriano called 911 to report that her husband was having a heart attack, but when paramedics arrived, she turned them away. Several hours later, she again called 911 to report that she had stabbed and beaten him in self-defense. When paramedics arrived, they found Joe Andriano dead from repeated beatings and a stab wound to the neck. Weak from the poisoning and chemotherapy, he was unable to defend himself against Andriano, who struck him at least 20 times with a barstool before stabbing him in the neck.
Proceedings:Presiding Judge: Hon. Brian K. Ishikawa Prosecutor: Juan Martinez Defense Counsel: Daniel Patterson & David Delozier Start of Trial: August 23, 2004 Verdict: November 18, 2004 Sentencing: December 22, 2004
Aggravating:Especially heinous, cruel or depraved
Mitigating:None sufficient to call for leniency
Pub Opinions:[Direct Appeal pending before the Arizona Supreme Court]


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In 2004, Wendi Andriano was convicted of one count of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for the killing of her terminally ill husband. The following facts are taken from the opinion of the Arizona Supreme Court affirming the conviction and sentence, State v. Andriano, 215 Ariz. 497, 161 P.3d 540 (2007), and from the Court’s review of the record.

At about 2:15 a.m. on October 8, 2000, Andriano called Chris, a coworker who lived at the same apartment complex, and asked her to watch the Andrianos’ two children while she took her husband, Joe, to the doctor. Wendi Andriano met Chris outside the apartment and told her Joe was dying. She also stated that she hadn’t called 911 yet. Chris urged her to do so.

Upon entering the apartment, Chris found Joe lying on the living room floor in the fetal position. He had vomited, appeared weak, and was having difficulty breathing. While Wendi Andriano was in another room calling 911, Joe told Chris that he needed help and had “for a long time.” He asked why it was taking 45 minutes for the paramedics to show up.

Chris heard the paramedics arrive and went outside to direct them to the apartment. As the paramedics were unloading their equipment, Andriano came out of the apartment screaming at them to leave. She returned to the apartment and slammed the door. Chris and the paramedics knocked on the door but no one answered. The Phoenix Fire Department called the Andrianos’ home telephone in an attempt to get Wendi Andriano to open the door. They notified the paramedics that contact had been made with someone in the apartment who would come out to speak with them. Instead of coming out the front door, which opened onto the living room, Andriano went out through the back door, climbed over the patio wall, and walked around the apartment building to the front door. She had changed her shirt and her hair was wet. Wendi Andriano told the paramedics that Joe was dying of cancer and had a do-not-resuscitate order. The paramedics left without entering the apartment.

Wendi Andriano called 911 again at 3:39 a.m. The same paramedics responded. When they entered the apartment they found Joe lying dead on the floor in a pool of blood. As determined by the medical examiner, Joe had sustained brain hemorrhaging caused by more than 20 blows to the back of his head. He had also suffered a stab wound to the side of his neck that severed his carotid artery. A broken bar stool covered in blood was found near Joe’s body, along with pieces of a lamp, a bloody kitchen knife, a bloody pillow, and a belt.

Trace amounts of the poison sodium azide were found in Joe’s blood and gastric contents, and in the contents of a pot and two soup bowls in the kitchen. Police also found gelatin capsules filled with sodium azide.

Defensive wounds on Joe’s hands and wrists indicated that he was conscious for at least part of the attack. Blood spatter and other evidence indicated that he was lying down during the attack. The absence of arterial spurting on the belt and the knife indicated that the items were placed beside Joe’s body after he died.

At trial, Wendi Andriano testified that Joe, who was suffering from terminal cancer and had been contemplating suicide, decided to take his life that night and swallowed several of the sodium azide capsules. The poison failed to kill him, however, and he became verbally abusive, accusing Andriano of infidelity and violently attacking her when she admitted to an affair. Andriano testified that Joe tried to strangle her with a telephone cord but she was able to cut the cord with a knife. When Joe picked up the knife she struck him with the bar stool in self-defense. She then hid in the bathroom but when she returned Joe still had the knife in his hand and was threatening to kill himself. She testified that she tried to stop him and during the resulting struggle his neck was cut.

Andriano also presented evidence, including expert testimony, that she was a victim of domestic abuse. Andriano testified that throughout the course of their marriage Joe had been emotionally, physically, and sexually abusive. The expert testified about the psychological effects of domestic abuse.

The jury found Wendi Andriano guilty of first-degree murder. During the penalty phase, the jury found one aggravating factor: that the murder had been committed in an “especially cruel manner” under A.R.S. § 13-751(F)(6). The jury then found that the evidence presented in mitigation was not sufficiently substantial to call for leniency and returned a verdict of death.

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A 34-year-old Ahwatukee Foothills woman was convicted Thursday of poisoning, beating and stabbing her terminally ill husband to death in October 2000 and now faces the possibility of the death penalty.

If sentenced to death, Wendi Andriano would become the second woman on Arizona’s death row. Jurors, who took 2 1 /2 hours to return their verdict, will begin hearing evidence in the penalty phase Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court.

After the guilty verdict was announced, Andriano glanced sharply at defense attorney David DeLozier. Her husband’s parents and two sisters, one of whom is raising the couple’s two small children, cried quietly and exchanged hugs.

“This is a relief for us because now we can get on with our life, and the children can get on with their life and have the normal family life they deserve,” said Jeanea Lambeth, one of the sisters.

Jurors were told Andriano grew tired of the time it was taking Joseph Andriano, 33, to die and devised a plan to poison him with the pesticide sodium azide. Prosecutor Juan Martinez said Wendi Andriano believed she could receive as much as $20 million if her husband died before their medical malpractice suit went to trial.

Not only did Wendi Andriano have two affairs in the weeks before her husband’s death, but she called multiple insurance companies in an attempt to get policies on her husband, Martinez said. She also asked two men to impersonate Joseph Andriano during the required physical exams — offering one of them $10,000 to do so, the prosecutor said.

Wendi Andriano’s attorneys, DeLozier and Dan Patterson, painted her as a meek and battered wife desperate for affection.

Andriano testified that her husband was the one who devised a plan that would end his life on his terms and provide life insurance for their two children, Nicholas, then 3, and Ashley, then 2. It was at his insistence, she claimed, that she purchased the insecticide under a false name and tried to purchase extra life insurance.

Wendi Andriano said that on the day of her husband’s death he voluntarily took the poison in pill form and stabbed himself in the neck after learning she had a one-night stand. She said she beat her enraged husband repeatedly with a bar stool in self-defense.

According to court testimony, Joseph Andriano was struck in the head 23 times and the pesticide was found in a pot of soup and two bowls.

Wendi Andriano faces either life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years, life without parole, or the death penalty. She could receive the death penalty if the jury finds the slaying was especially cruel, heinous and depraved and because the motivating factor was money.

If given the death penalty, Andriano will join Debra Milke on death row. Milke was convicted of hiring two friends to shoot her 4-year-old son to death in December 1989 because she didn’t want him to grow up to be like his father. The boy went with the men believing he was going to visit Santa Claus

https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/news/woman-convicted-of-slaying-husband/article_6df08377-6efc-5445-986f-be87c73c6303.html

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Wendi Andriano is currently incarcerated at the ASPC Perryville, Lumley Unit the home of Arizona Death Row for Women

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Wendi Andriano was convicted of the murder of her husband in brutal fashion