This is when the Las Vegas metro police discovered “the worst” case of child abuse they’ve ever seen, with six horribly abused children, including two locked in a cage.
Officers responding to a domestic violence call on June 11 found two children, ages nine and 11, locked in a dog cage and another four badly beaten in an apartment near Flamingo Road and Valley View Boulevard.
One of the children had “two black eyes that were swollen shut, multiple marks and bruises all over his body, and he was emaciated,” police said. The child was in such a condition that his father thought he had beaten him to death.
Married couple Travis Doss, 31, and Amanda Stamper, 33, shared the one-bedroom apartment with seven children under the age of 11, all of whom were fathered by Doss.
A seventh child, a two-year-old girl, the only biological child he shares with Stamper, does not appear to be present at the time.
Las Vegas police discovered six severely abused children last month, including two locked in a dog cage in a one-bedroom apartment
Amanda Stamper, 33, (left) and Travis Doss, 31, (right) have been charged with child molestation and have both pleaded not guilty
Doss has been charged with more than 40 felonies, including several counts of child abuse, and sex trafficking with his wife.
Stamper faces seven charges of child abuse, one for each child.
The disturbing images, first obtained by 8NewsNowdepicts agents attempting to enter the locked apartment before discovering the horrible conditions inside.
After officers introduced their flashlights, children locked in cages revealed a pit bull roaming free.
The officers led the children out of the apartment into the daylight, where they began to describe their abuse, which included their father’s beating with belts, cords, and even a frying pan.
The emaciated child in the cage said he wasn’t getting enough to eat despite being a “big boy” now and would have to share “one big boy from McDonalds” with his siblings or eat food “in the bin.”
“He hit my face in the cage because I was crushed when I tried to get out of the cage because I didn’t do anything and I panicked,” the child tells officers in the video.
The gruesome discovery came after police were called to a Walgreens store across the street from the apartment where Stamper was hiding from her husband because “he threatened to kill her,” 8News Now reported.
Stamper told officers that Doss showed her a photo of the child out of the cage and said he kicked the child in the head so hard he thought he was dead.
One of the children in the cage had “two black eyes that were swollen shut, multiple spots and bruises all over his body, and he was emaciated.”
Travis Doss allegedly said he beat a child so badly he thought he was dead in the cage
Amanda Stamper claims she was trafficked and violently abused by Doss
Travis Doss faces more than 40 charges including child molestation and sex trafficking with his wife
Stamper told 8 News Now she wishes she had gotten help sooner, but she was a victim of abuse and afraid of her husband
The couple (pictured) shares one biological child, a two-year-old daughter
Stamper reportedly told police she believed the child had “appeared dead for the past five days.”
She then told the officers what they would find in the couple’s apartment.
Stamper told 8 News Now that she was a victim of severe domestic violence and was unable to seek help because she feared Doss and his retribution if she did.
“I was abused too, not just her. He would use my kids and my family if I ever called the police like he was going to find my family and my kids, he’s just a really violent person,” she later told the outlet.
“I know they were terrified,” said Stamper, who is currently pregnant.
She said she eventually managed to call the police because she wanted them to be safe. “I’m sorry I didn’t do it sooner,” she added.
Stamper’s public defender said she did not hit the children herself, as if “if she had done anything she would have been severely, severely abused.”
Prosecutors said they knew Stamper was working as a sex worker for Doss, but that she was aware of the alleged abuse.
Both Doss and Stamper appeared in court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty.