Monster father’s letter to his children revealed as he learns his fate for starving six-year-old son to death after locking him in a closet for 16 hours a day

An Arizona man has been sentenced to life in prison after allowing his six-year-old son to starve in 2020.

Anthony Jose Martinez, 28, was sentenced Friday in Coconino County Superior Court, where his attorney also read an apology statement he wrote himself.

In it, Martinez apologized to the deceased child’s three other siblings, two of whom did not suffer the same physical abuse but still suffered long-term damage, officials said.

The deceased child, DeShaun Matinez, was typically locked in a closet in the family’s home for 16 hours at a time, a crime for which the children’s mother was also sentenced to life in prison around this time last year.

While Martinez declined to speak before the proceedings, his attorney read part of a statement intended for his three remaining children. When discovered, the boy’s body weighed just 18 pounds, well below average for his age. The cause of death was listed as homicide.

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“I want to start by apologizing to my children for everything I put you through,” attorney Taylor Fox read from Martinez’s letter as he stood stoically in the background.

‘I love you all very much. I’m sorry I failed to be the father you all deserved. I wish I could take it all back and do things the right way, and protect you from all of this.

“I’m not going to ask you to forgive me for my actions, I just hope that one day I can make things right in some way.”

His sons’ new adoptive mother also spoke before the sentencing, in which she was Martinez for abandoning all three of his children.

“A father is the protector, provider, teacher and the first role model in life,” she said during her statement in court.

“I am forever saddened, Anthony, that you have thrown away the gift and privilege of fatherhood.

‘So much has been taken from these children, yet they can never be themselves again.’

“As their adoptive mother, I recognize the beauty of their natural gifts. I am here to tell you how special and unique these children are.”

The children were not present in court, as both biological parents were absent. The defense portrayed Martinez as a victim of abuse by his own father, which they said had affected his adult life.

One of them, the boy’s older brother who was seven years old at the time, was locked in the small closet in the bedroom together with his brother or sister for sixteen hours a day for a month. All this because they stole food at night while their parents were sleeping.

The children’s mother, Elizabeth Archibeque, was last year branded “a heinous, cruel and depraved” by Coconino Superior Court Judge Ted Reed, who said at the time that she deserved prison time “for the remainder of the time.” [her] natural life.’

That punishment came after Reed admitted that the former mother of four appeared remorseful for her actions.

The eldest boy, the only other victim of the couple’s abuse, survived but weighed just 30 pounds (13 kilograms) when police found him and his dead brother in March 2020.

He was taken to hospital, where he recovered after almost three weeks of treatment.

According to police, the couple’s other two children – girls who were 2 and 4 at the time – were healthy and of normal weight.

The authorities saw that there were no restrictions at home, but still witnessed the abuse.

The foster mother who took in Deshaun’s siblings said his brother was “so traumatized about food and eating” that he would “ask every five minutes” when they would next eat and that he would carry a “special little lunch box with snacks that would never leave his side.”

She said it took three years for one of the sisters to start talking and the other was “firmly convinced she was carrying both brothers on her back and saving them.”

“So much has been taken from these children,” she said.

The boy’s parents initially attributed their son’s malnourished condition to a medical condition and to taking diet or caffeine pills. They eventually revealed to police how they regularly kept the two boys in a closet for two-thirds of the day.

Judge Ted Reed cited aggravating factors in sentencing Martinez, describing the crimes as particularly heinous and cruel while Martinez was in a position of trust as the children’s father.

The judge acknowledged that Martinez had a traumatic childhood and had no prior convictions for a crime, but still gave him the same sentence as his wife.

Archibeque, 30, briefly took the witness stand last year to testify on her own behalf, saying she blamed herself for her son’s death and fully accepted the punishment she received.

“A big part of me died along with my beautiful child,” she said at the time. “Not a day goes by that I don’t grieve… I’m so sorry.”

“I realize you had a traumatic childhood, but that in no way excuses the behavior you exhibited toward these children,” Reed said Friday in closing Martinez’s hearing.

“I understand and appreciate your regret, and wish you the best.”

In addition to his life sentence, Martinez was sentenced to an additional 68 years for two counts of child molestation and two counts of kidnapping, committed against both the 6-year-old child and their 7-year-old sibling.

The sentences will be served consecutively and also include two convictions for aggravated assault