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Memorial Web page... 
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By RON WORD, Associated Press Writer
Katie Sullivan kneeled, placed some flowers in front of a shrine and said a silent prayer for slain 8-year-old Maddie Clifton.
"She is everybody's child," said Mrs. Sullivan, the mother of 4- and 11-year-old boys who attend San Jose Catholic School where Maddie was a third grader.
There will be a viewing at 7 p.m. Friday at San Jose Catholic Church on Toledo Road. Maddie's funeral will be Saturday at 10 a.m. at the church. She will be buried at Oaklawn Cemetery. |
Mrs. Sullivan's carnations were placed Wednesday at the foot of the school's shrine among the hundreds of roses, daisies, stuffed bears, rabbits and gorillas, and the letters to Maddie. Her body was found stuffed in the bottom of her neighbor's water bed Tuesday, a week after she disappeared.
Joshua Earl Patrick Phillips, 14, who lived across the street and helped search for Maddie, was charged with murder for hitting Maddie over the head with a baseball bat and stabbing her 11 times.
"This could have happened to any of our children," Mrs. Sullivan said.
"I could not believe this child could do this," said neighbor Jim Poston.
Joshua, who had no criminal record and maintained a C average at A. Philip Randolph Academies of Technology, would not be eligible for the death penalty because of his age.
No decision will be made immediately on whether to charge Joshua as an adult, Assistant State Attorney E. McRae Mathis said.
Attorney Richard Nichols, who said his client was crying the night of his arrest, said he expects prosecutors to try Joshua as an adult. Volunteers are circulating petitions asking State Attorney Harry Shorstein to treat Joshua as an adult.
At Maddie's home Wednesday, a large section of the front yard was covered with flowers of every kind and color, including a large white cross covered with pink roses.
Joshua's house was surrounded by yellow police crime scene tape, its gate closed and its curtains drawn.
Maddie's disappearance had touched many in the Jacksonville area, where thousands of posters of her smiling face were distributed by hundreds of volunteers. A $100,000 reward was offered for her safe return.
"Maddie, we will never forget you," said a note left at her school. "God bless you. We hope you have a good time in heaven. Your friend Joseph Daum, fourth grader, Twin Lakes Academy."
By RON WORD, Associated Press Writer
A 14-year-old boy told police his father came home while he was beating an 8-year-old girl, so he stepped out of his room then returned to kill her and hide her body under his water bed.
The body of Maddie Clifton was entombed for a week in the frame of the same water bed where the boy slept before it began to give off an odor and was discovered by his mother.
Joshua Earl Patrick Phillips, a tall, thin youngster with sandy brown curly hair, was ordered held Wednesday in isolation at a juvenile detention center until his trial.
He wore ankle and wrist shackles and did not speak during the two-minute hearing attended by his parents, Steve and Melissa Phillips. His attorney Richard Nichols did not enter a plea to the murder charge.
Sheriff Nat Glover refused to discuss a motive but said Joshua gave police the details of Maddie's death on Nov. 3, the evening she disappeared while chipping golf balls with friends in her neighborhood.
Joshua "came out so his father wouldn't go into his room, and he continued to hear some movement from her, some sounds from her, and after he got clear of his father he went back and somewhat finished the job," Glover told the media on Wednesday.
Assistant State Attorney E. McRae Mathis said the order by Duval County Judge James Ruth was the juvenile court equivalent of holding an adult without bond. Joshua, who had no criminal record and maintained a C average at A. Philip Randolph Academies of Technology, would not be eligible for the death penalty because of his age. Another hearing was scheduled for November 20.
Police said Joshua hit Maddie in the head with a baseball bat and stabbed her nine times in the body and twice in the neck. Police recovered a knife and a bat believed used in the killing.
Mathis said no decision will be made immediately on whether to charge Joshua as an adult: "We want to wait until all the reports and all the information is in before we make a decision early next week," he said after the hearing. "This case will receive the highest response allowed by law."
Volunteers are circulating petitions asking State Attorney Harry Shorstein to treat Joshua as an adult.
Nichols, who said he expects prosecutors to try Joshua as an adult, refused to label a statement given to investigators as a confession: "He gave them a statement about what happened," Nichols said. "After I met with him, he did not talk to them any more. He understands what we are talking about and what is going on," adding that Joshua cried during their meeting.
If you who'd like to send cards to Maddie Clifton's family or donate money to a memorial fund in her memory, mail to:
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Joshua's mother grew suspicious of her son after police searched Maddie knew her neighbor as a playmate and friend who lived across the street from her home in the working-class Lakewood neighborhood. After her disappearance, hundreds of people searched the area for the missing girl, including Joshua.
Glover said Maddie did not appear to have been sexually assaulted.
Not 25 feet away from Joshua's house, the front yard of Maddie's beige-and-blue two-story home became a shrine to the little girl one neighbor described as precious and adorable. The yard was filled Wednesday with balloons, roses, carnations, daisies and a white cross with pink roses. A big purple bow was tacked onto the front door. A red sign with black lettering read "Out of respect please don't go past this point."
The curtains and blinds on Joshua's one-story pink house were drawn, and the house was surrounded by yellow police crime scene tape.
About a mile away at San Jose Catholic School, where Maddie was a third grader, stuffed bears, rabbits and gorillas were scattered among the flowers and notes at the base of a 50-foot-tall shrine to Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
"Maddie, we will never forget you," one note said. "God bless you. We hope you have a good time in heaven. Your friend Joseph Daum, fourth grader, Twin Lakes Academy."
The Clifton family is waiting for the autopsy to be complete before making funeral arrangements.
Stay tuned to NewsChannel 4 for continuing coverage of this tragic story.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)