Dad of murdered 10-year-old daughter pleads guilty to abuse (Phoenix, Arizona)

I have never seen it clarified why this girl was not in the custody of her mother, but stuck with these savages.

Dad is identified as DAVID DEAL.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/20130424father-of-phoenix-girl-in-footlocker-death-pleads-guilty-to-abuse-abrk.html

Father of Phoenix girl in footlocker death pleads guilty in abuse

By Jane Lednovich

The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team
Wed Apr 24, 2013 12:29 PM

The father of Ame Deal, a 10-year-old Phoenix girl who died in July 2011 after she was locked in a footlocker, has pleaded guilty to an attempted child abuse charge and possession of marijuana, according to court officials.

David Deal, 53, was taken into custody on July 8, almost a year after Ame’s death. He was one of several suspects taken into custody after Ame’s body was found in a footlocker that measured about 32 inches long, 14 inches wide and 12 inches deep, police said.

Officials also had accused Deal of locking his daughter in the trunk as punishment on several occasions between December 2010 and July 2011. After his arrest, Deal denied that Ame was his daughter and that he abused her, officials told The Republic in 2012.

Ame’s aunt, Cynthia Stoltzmann, 45, also pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse and one count of attempted child abuse, according to Maricopa County prosecutors. The sentencing for both Stoltzmann and Deal is scheduled for June 6. Deal faces up to 16 years in prison.

Ame’s cousins, 24-year-old John Allen and 24-year-old Sammantha Allen, have been charged with first-degree murder in connection to Ame’s death, according to court records. Authorities allege that her cousins stuffed her in the footlocker at her home, in the 3700 block of West Romley Road, as punishment for taking a popsicle from the freezer.

The state is seeking the death penalty against John and Sammantha Allen, authorities told The Republic in 2012. The death-penalty case won't come to trial until December, court records show.