9-year-old was left dead on couch for two days, Arizona cops say. Dad is charged
A 9-year-old boy was left dead on a couch for days in a garbage-filled home with no running water, Arizona deputies said.
The child’s 38-year-old father, Joseph Antonsen, was arrested Sunday, July 14, in his home near Tucson, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office said in a probable cause statement.
Antonsen told deputies his son had been sick two days prior, so he went to start his car so he could get medical help for his son, according to court documents.
When he went back into the house, he found the child “shuttering and going limp,” the documents said.
The child then stopped breathing, and Antonsen said he couldn’t find a pulse, deputies said.
Instead of reporting the incident to authorities, the father left the home for two days, deputies said.
Deputies said they responded to the home and discovered it was cluttered and filled with garbage, including piles near where the child’s decomposing body was found on the couch.
Additionally, there were “empty beer cans, large piles of soiled diapers, rotten food, bottles full of what appears to be urine, lots of insect activity and spiders (black widows and brown recluses)” in the home, deputies noted in documents.
The home also didn’t have running water or working toilets, according to court documents.
Antonsen was charged with negligent homicide and child abuse.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 25.
This story was originally published July 17, 2024 at 10:51 AM with the headline "9-year-old was left dead on couch for two days, Arizona cops say. Dad is charged."
