1988 noticed a number of disruption because of Maddie Clifton’s sudden disappearance from her Southside Jacksonville residence, and after making a startling discovery everybody went right into a frenzy.
In keeping with NamUS, the Nationwide Lacking and Unidentified Particular person System, roughly 600,000 individuals go lacking in the US annually. Nearly all of the lacking have been discovered, which is great information, however lots of them have by no means been discovered.
Though going lacking could be extremely painful and have a long-lasting impression on members of the family and associates, many lacking individual circumstances lie unsolved for years.
This text will focus on the circumstances concerning the case of Maddie Clifton and inform you of what really occurred.
The Case’s Starting
On November 3, 1998, Maddie Clifton who was solely eight years previous went lacking from her space the place she resided.
Maddie disappeared from her Lakewood neighborhood on Jacksonville’s Southside. Her mom, Sheila Clifton, filed a lacking grievance in opposition to a daughter.
Maddie Clifton
Madelyn (Maddie) Rae Clifton was an eight-year little one who was born on June 17, 1990, in Jacksonville, Florida, US. She grew up in an period when mother and father let their youngsters roam the streets freely.
She was a playful and comfortable child. At some point, she went outside to play with associates on November 3, 1998 and by no means got here again residence.
The day Maddie went lacking, she was sporting a pink YMCA basketball shirt. However the place she went was a riddle that had but to be solved.
The neighborhood searched the streets for the misplaced younger woman for six exhausting days, and a £72,000 bounty was introduced for her protected return. Additionally, the FBI obtained concerned after the native police had no findings.
Who Is Joshua Phillips?
Born on March 17, 1984, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Joshua Earl Patrick Phillips was a baby who was all the time fearful of his abusive father, Steve Phillips.
Pc skilled Steve Phillips, his father, was fairly forceful and repressive along with his spouse Melissa too.
Josh’s household relocated to Florida within the early Nineteen Nineties throughout the road from the Cliftons. Steve had sturdy restrictions for his little one.
He used to get irritated if there have been different youngsters round the home whereas he wasn’t there, and had a robust hatred for younger women.
Mom of Josh, Melissa additionally claimed she hadn’t ever comprehended her husband’s emotions towards girls.
Nevertheless, Phillips was “quiet and pleasant” by nature, in keeping with his neighbors. He was a popular child in class, in keeping with his faculty instructor, who additionally described him as humorous and entertaining.
Maddie Clifton Went to Josh Phillips’ Home
On November 3, 1998, Maddie Clifton got here to Phillips’ home when he was residence alone, in keeping with Phillips.
She lived straight throughout the road from the Phillips’. She went to his home and urged him to play baseball together with her exterior.
He hesitated earlier than responding, though he knew his mother and father have been away. Then, he claimed, he threw his ball and hit her within the eye by mistake.
She screamed and began to bleed. In his confession, Phillips mentioned that whereas dragging Maddie to his bed room to cover from his dad, who was about to get residence, her underwear fell off.
Maddie didn’t cease screaming. He then used the baseball bat to strike her 3 times within the head whereas forcing her beneath his waterbed to quiet her.
Nevertheless, Phillips mentioned that when his father got here, he nonetheless might hear Maddie crying. Panicking, he took her out and used a pen knife to stab her within the chest and neck seven instances.
Seven days had handed since Maddie’s disappearance, whereas Josh had additionally helped with the investigation.
Mother and father of Maddie Clifton, Steve and Sheila Clifton have been winding up a tv interview on November 10, 1988 within the hopes that it’d result in the restoration of their daughter.
On the identical day, Melissa Phillips whereas cleansing her son’s room noticed leakage in his waterbed. She shortly alerted a police officer after discovering Clifton’s physique after nearer inspection.
Maddie’s hand was nonetheless gripping Phillips’ mattress body when authorities subsequently took her physique out, indicating that she had been alive when Josh shoved her again beneath for the final time.
After being caught later at his faculty, Phillips shortly confessed to the killing. He additionally claimed that he dedicated homicide as a result of he was afraid of his father’s anger.
The Official Trial
Police have been shocked as a result of regardless of conducting three searches of the Phillips home, they mistook the scent of quite a few pet birds for that of Maddie Clifton’s demise.
Just a few of Phillips’ claims have been contested by the prosecution. Harry Shorstein, the state’s legal professional, speculated that the homicide could have had a sexual motive.
Though prosecutors maintained that the absence of sand and mud on Clifton’s stays didn’t confirm Phillips’s declare that her clothes fell off as he carried her into his room, the post-mortem confirmed no indication of sexual assault.
The prosecution maintained that Phillips’ account of what occurred was not supported by the truth that no blood was found within the yard or on the baseball that Phillips claimed hit Clifton.
Moreover, in keeping with prosecutor Harry Shorstein, the assassin spent half-hour earlier than the crime looking violent and p*rnographic websites on his desktop laptop.
On January 13, 1999, the outcomes of Maddie’s postmortem have been made public, exhibiting that she had suffered a number of traumatic head traumas and plenty of cranium fractures.
Her demise might have been influenced by neck stab wounds. However the health worker decides that there was no signal of a sexual assault.
The Sentence
The well-known trial began on July 6, 1999, barely lasted 2 days. Josh Phillips was discovered responsible of first-degree homicide by the jury after solely two hours of testimony.
His life in jail with out the potential for launch was imposed by the choose on August 26.
In the course of the listening to for his new sentence in 2017, Josh went earlier than Circuit Decide Waddell Wallace III. Phillips expressed remorse to Maddie’s household all through the continuing. He mentioned:
“I don’t fake to know or perceive your ache or to know the void I created in your lives. I can say this, I do perceive ache. I’ve change into fairly intimate with struggling. Rising up in jail, I’ve seen many darkish issues and I’ve been to some darkish locations. Many instances all through this journey, I got here near ending my life, simply to flee all of it.”
Two years later, Joshua requested a resentencing. In keeping with testimony from a psychologist, Phillips had undergone rehabilitation and was regretful for his actions.
The skilled additionally acknowledged that if launched into society, his horrible crime wouldn’t have any impression on his actions.
Josh’s sentence can be reviewed in 2023, after serving 25 years of it, in keeping with the courtroom, which as soon as extra affirmed the decision.
