Josh Phillips (murderer)

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Josh Phillips was a 14-year-old boy from Jacksonville, Florida who in November 1998 murdered his 8-year-old neighbor, Maddie Clifton. He is currently serving a sentence of life in prison without parole for the crime.^[1]

The murder was the subject of intense national television coverage, including a documentary on 48 Hours titled "Why did Josh Kill?".^[2].

Contents 1 The disappearance 2 Murder case 3 Appeals 4 See also 5 References

[edit] The disappearance

On November 3, 1998, Clifton disappeared. The first suspect named in the case was neighbor Larry Grisham. Grisham had been arrested twice in the past, both times between 15 and 20 years earlier, in sexual battery cases, but in both incidents, charges were dropped. Grisham failed a lie detector test in relation to Clifton's disappearance, but provided an alibi^[3].

Police called off the search for Clifton, but the community, including over 400 volunteers, persisted. A reward was offered, that initially was $50,000, but later doubled^[4]. One of the volunteers was Phillips.

The FBI became involved in the case. Flyers were distributed around town, including at a local Jaguars-Bengals game. America's Most Wanted also offered to broadcast the story^[5].

[edit] Murder case

The search ended a week after the disappearance when Josh's mother noticed an unusual odor coming from his bedroom. Upon further examination, she discovered the body of Maddie hidden inside Josh's waterbed. She promptly called police^[6].

Josh was arrested that day at his school, considered to be the prime suspect. He was held in maximum security as he made his first court appearance. It was determined that Clifton's cause of death was from stabbing and clubbing with a baseball bat^[7]. Both these weapons were retrieved by police.

He was charged with first-degree murder. His trial was held in Polk County due to the massive amount of media coverage. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of him ever being freed. Because he was under 16, he was not eligible for the death penalty under Florida's law at the time^[8].

Though it was clear Phillips was the murderer, his motive remained a mystery. Even Josh himself has been unable to answer the question as to why he committed the murder when interviewed from prison. Though he had no history of violence, some of the evidence retrieved during search warrants that was released to the public following the trial painted a much different picture Josh different from what his family and neighbors had known him to be^[9].

Following the trial, Josh's father, Steve Phillips, was killed in a car accident^[10]. Maddie's grief-stricken parents, Steve and Sheila Clifton, divorced^[11].

[edit] Appeals

In 2002, an appeals court upheld Phillips' conviction^[12].

In December 2004, Melissa Phillips, Josh's mother, began to seek a new trial for her son^[13][14]. She felt that his young age at the time of the murder should be taken into account.

[edit] See also

• Lionel Tate

[edit] References