LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The wife of a man accused of beating six of his children and keeping two locked in a cage called 911 earlier in the day, telling a dispatcher she feared for her life, she says in audio the 8 News Now Investigators obtained.
Travis Doss, 31, and Amanda Stamper, 33, shared a one-bedroom, one-bathroom extended-stay apartment with seven children near Flamingo Road and Valley View Boulevard, documents said. Police arrested the couple, who cared for all the children between the ages of 2 and 11, on Sunday, June 11, the 8 News Now Investigators first reported.
On Monday, the 8 News Now Investigators showed body camera video as police officers entered the apartment, finding six children alone and two padlocked in a cage.
That morning, police were called to a store for a woman, later identified as Stamper, who was hiding from her husband, later identified as Doss, because “he threatened to kill her,” documents said. Stamper then alerted police about what they would find in the apartment, police said.
Stamper was inside the store as Doss waited for her in a car with their 2-year-old daughter, Stamper said in the call. Stamper called 911 with an employee’s phone from a stock room.
Dispatcher: Why is he going to come after you?
Stamper: Because he told me he was going to kill me today. He already beat the kids up and I am terrified.
Dispatcher: He’s beatin’ your child up?
Stamper: The kids at the apartment. He’s super violent to all them.
Dispatcher: How many kids do you guys have?
Stamper: I have one child with him but he has six other kids on his own, but this is the situation, he’s already been doing this for like weeks, so I finally left, but he’s like very manipulative.
Stamper later told investigators Doss was “violent towards all the children” except the 2-year-old, police said. Stamper said he hit the children with “belts, extension cords, skillets, his hands and feet,” documents said. “Amanda said all the children are covered with marks from their neck down.”
The day before their arrests, Doss reportedly told Stamper he believed the child in the cage was deceased, documents said, because he had “kicked him in the head too hard.” Stamper reportedly told police she believed the child “looked dead for the last five days.”
A grand jury indicted Doss on 38 counts of child abuse, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, one count of sex trafficking, and one count of living off of the earnings of a prostitute. The panel indicted Stamper on seven counts of felony child abuse. For prosecutors, she should have tried to protect the children sooner.
In an interview with police, Doss reportedly said he knew he “beat [the child] pretty bad” but he had “no choice,” documents said. Doss said he never witnessed Stamper hit the children.
“I was dealing with a monster,” Stamper told the 8 News Now Investigators from jail.
Stamper said that Doss forced her to sell sex, the abuse escalated over the past year and he beat her and the children. Doss also withheld food as punishment, according to Stamper.
“He would use my, my children, and my family. Like, if I was ever to call the police, like, you know, go find my family and my kids. He’s just really a violent person,” Stamper said from jail.
Stamper told the 8 News Now Investigators that she has two other children who did not reside with her and that she is pregnant.
Stamper was being held without bail due to a probation violation, records showed. Judge Andrew Wong initially set Doss’ bail at $250,000 in June. Doss’ bail was raised to $500,000 following his indictment.
Both Doss and Stamper were due in court next week following two delays in their district court arraignments. Both have pleaded not guilty.
To report child abuse, visit https://dcfs.nv.gov/Tips/CA/ChildAbuse. To reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline, call: 800-799-7233.
