Az. Boy, 9, Found Dead, Decomposing and Sitting Upright In Home Filled with Spiders, Bottles of Urine: Sheriff

News By TooFab Staff |
Pima County Sheriff's Department

The boy's father is facing child abuse and negligent homicide charges and says he "should have called somebody" when his son "went limp" -- as the "deplorable" conditions of the home are detailed.

An Arizona father has been charged in connection with his 9-year-old son's death, after police found the boy in a state of decomposition in a home filled with spiders, trash, soiled diapers and bottles of urine.

Joseph Gregory Antonsen, 38, is facing charges of child abuse and negligent homicide and is being held on $500,000 bond.

According to a press release obtained by KOLD reporter Mary Coleman, the Pima County Sheriff's Department responded to a residence in the Tucson Mountain District and found a dead 9-year-old boy inside on July 14.

Per probable cause docs, deputies who located the child found him on the couch "in a sitting position" and "in the process of decomposition." The home, meanwhile, was described as "cluttered," with piles of trash located around the couch where the boy was found.

Also found near the couch: "Lots of empty beer cans, large piles of soiled diapers, rotten foods, large amounts of one gallon bottles full of what appear to be urine" and "lots of insect activity" -- including "black widows and brown recluse" spiders and "spiderwebs everywhere throughout the walls of the home."

The house also had no running water or working toilets, said authorities.

Per the docs, Antonsen said his son fell ill on July 12. Though he said he was going to take him to get checked out by a doctor, the boy began "shuttering and going limp" before he stopped breathing. Antonsen allegedly said he couldn't find a pulse.

He said he then left the home without his son and didn't return until the 14th. Antonsen "declined" to speak with deputies further.

"Based on the deplorable conditions of the home and Joseph failing to provide medical aid or calling 911 for [the child], probable cause exists to charge Joseph Antonsen for Child Abuse and Negligent Homicide," authorities wrote in the docs, before he was arrested.

A neighbor, meanwhile, told KOLD the boy "was really cute. He was a really friendly kid. He was very polite. He was a lot friendlier than his dad."

If you are experiencing or witness child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911.