This is when Las Vegas Metro police uncover the “worst” child abuse case they’ve ever seen: six horribly abused children, including two locked in a cage.
Officials responding to a domestic violence call on June 11 found two children, ages nine and 11, locked in a dog cage and another four badly beaten in an apartment near Flamingo Road and Valley View Boulevard.
One of the children had “two black eyes that were swollen shut, numerous spots and bruises all over his body, and was emaciated,” police said. The child was in such a state that his father thought he had beaten him to death.
Husband and wife team Travis Doss, 31, and Amanda Stamper, 33, shared the one-bedroom apartment with seven children under the age of 11, all fathered by Doss.
A seventh child, a two-year-old girl, the only biological child he shares with Stamper, does not appear to have been present at the time.
Las Vegas police last month discovered six severely abused children, including two locked in a dog cage in a one-bedroom apartment
Amanda Stamper, 33, (left) and Travis Doss, 31, (right) have been charged with child molestation and both have pleaded not guilty
Doss has been charged with more than 40 criminal offenses, including multiple counts of child abuse and sex trafficking with his wife.
Stamper faces seven child molestation charges, one for each child.
The disturbing footage, first obtained by 8NewsNow, shows officers attempting to break into the locked apartment before discovering the horrific conditions inside.
When officers entered, their flashlights spotted children locked in cages while a pit bull roamed free.
Officers led the children out of the home, where they began to describe their abuse, including being beaten by their father with belts, cords and even a frying pan.
The emaciated caged child said he was not given adequate food despite being “big boy” and had to share “a big McDonald’s fries” with his siblings or eat food “in the trash”.
“He slapped me in the face in the cage because I was crushed trying to get out of the cage because I was doing nothing and freaking out,” the child tells officers in the video.
The horrifying discovery came after police were called to a Walgreens store across the street from the apartment where Stamper was hiding from her husband because “he threatened to kill her,” 8News Now reported.
Stamper told officers Doss showed her a picture of the child removed from the cage and said he kicked the child in the head so hard he thought it was dead.
One of the children in the cage had “two black eyes that were swollen shut, numerous spots and bruises all over his body, and was emaciated.”
Travis Doss allegedly said he beat a child so badly he believed it was dead in the cage
Amanda Stamper claims she was a sex trafficking victim and was violently abused by Doss
Travis Doss faces more than 40 charges, including child molestation and sex trafficking with his wife
Stamper told 8 News Now she wished she had gotten help sooner but was a victim of abuse and fearful of her husband
The couple (pictured) have one biological child together, a two-year-old daughter
Stamper reportedly told police she believed the child had “looked dead for the past five days.”
She then told officers what they would find at the couple’s home.
Stamper told 8 News Now that she was a victim of serious domestic violence and was unable to seek help because she was afraid of Doss and his retaliation if she did.
“I was abused too, not just her. He would use my kids and my family if I ever called the police like he’s looking for my family and my kids, he’s just a really violent person,” she later told the outlet.
“I know they were very scared,” said Stamper, who is currently pregnant.
She said she finally managed to call the police because she wanted them to be safe. “I’m sorry I didn’t do it sooner,” she added.
Stamper’s public defender said she did not hit the children herself because “if she had done anything, she would have been subject to severe abuse.”
Prosecutors said they knew Stamper was working as a sex worker on instructions from Doss, but was aware of the alleged abuse.
Both Doss and Stamper appeared in court Tuesday and pleaded not guilty.