KINGMAN, AZ (KLAS) — Sheriff’s deputies arrested a group of adults from Kingman after the body of a 16-year-old boy was found days after his parents reported him missing, according to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office.
On Saturday, Feb. 25, Mohave County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to a residence in the 2300 block of Packard Avenue in Kingman, they said. Amber-Leah Valentine, 41, and Jon Imes, 41, told deputies that their 16-year-old son had run away from home.
The two told deputies that their son had been last seen the day prior at around 10:00 a.m., according to a post on Mohave County Sheriff’s Facebook page.
On Tuesday, Feb. 28, just three days later, the body of a white male was found wrapped in a blanket behind a stone wall in the area of Anson Smith and Indian Canyon roads.
Two days later, on March 2, Valentine called the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office and told them that she had just freed her 14-year-old daughter who was being held captive by Valentine’s roommates, Richard Pounds, 34, and Shioban Gujda, 39.
Valentine requested medical attention for both herself and her daughter. They were transported to Kingman Regional Medical Center.
She then told police that she and her husband, Imes, had disposed of their 16-year-old’s body and that they had lied to deputies previously.
The boy had already been dead by the time they reported him as a runaway.
While being questioned, Imes also admitted to disposing of his son’s body and lying to deputies.
Deputies spoke with the daughter while at the medical center. She had allegedly been shot in the eye with a BB gun by Pounds and told deputies of additional accounts of abuse in the home.
Both Valentine and Imes were arrested and will face charges of felony abandonment/concealment of a dead body. They are being held at the Mohave County Adult Detention Facility.
With the assistance of the Bullhead City SWAT team, deputies search the home on Packard Avenue. Pounds and Gujda were taken into custody and questioned. Pounds was arrested for felony child abuse and aggravated assault. Gujda was released pending further investigation.
The autopsy results of the 16-year-old boy were pending as of Monday.
The case remains under investigation with additional charges still pending.
