Josh Phillips (murderer)

Joshua Phillips
Mug shot of Joshua Phillips in 2010
Born	Joshua Earl Patrick Phillips (1984-03-17) March 17, 1984 (age 33) Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Nationality	American
Other names	Josh
Citizenship	American
Education	Blackstone Career Institute
Criminal penalty	Life imprisonment with no possibility of parole (Overturned)
Criminal status	Incarcerated in Cross City Correctional Institution
Parent(s)	Melissa Phillips and Steve Phillips
Motive	To end the victim's crying and avoid the harassment from father
Conviction(s)	Murder
Killings
Victims	Maddie Clifton
Date	November 3, 1998
Location(s)	Jacksonville, Florida
Weapons	Baseball bat Knife
Date apprehended	November 10, 1998
Imprisoned at	Cross City Correctional Institution

Joshua Earl Patrick "Josh" Phillips (born March 17, 1984) is an American convicted murderer from Jacksonville, Florida. He was convicted in July 1999 of murdering an 8-year-old neighbor, Maddie Clifton, in November 1998, when he was 14 years old. He is currently serving a sentence of life in prison without parole. The murder was the subject of national television coverage, including a documentary on 48 Hours titled "Why did Josh Kill?"

Phillips was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 17, 1984. Josh's father, Steve Phillips, a 6 ft 6 in (198cm) man, dominated his wife and son and had a violent temper. In Too Young to Kill: 15 Shocking Crimes Josh recalls at one point in his life he walked in his parents room to see his father's fist smashed through a wall, this made him terrified of his own father. Steve gave his son strict rules. He was also a drug addict and alcoholic.

On November 3, 1998, around 5:00pm, Maddie Clifton disappeared. The first suspect named in the case was neighbor Larry Grisham. Grisham had been arrested twice in the past, both times between 15 and 20 years earlier, in sexual battery cases, but in both incidents, charges were dropped. Grisham failed a lie detector test in relation to Maddie's disappearance, but provided an alibi.

Police called off the search for Maddie, but the community, including over 400 volunteers, persisted. A reward was offered; that was initially $50,000 but it was later doubled. One of the volunteers was Phillips.

The FBI became involved in the case. Flyers were distributed around town, including at a local Jaguars-Bengals game. Television series America's Most Wanted also offered to broadcast the story.

The search ended a week after the disappearance when Phillips' mother Melissa went to clean his room and found that his waterbed seemed to be "leaking". Upon further examination, she discovered Maddie's body hidden inside the base of the waterbed. She promptly ran outside her home and went across the street to get the police.

Phillips was arrested that day at his school. He was held in maximum security as he made his first court appearance. It was determined that Clifton's cause of death was due to stabbing and clubbing with a baseball bat. Phillips claimed the event happened one afternoon when he was home alone, Maddie came to his house asking him to come outside and play baseball, Phillips agreed even though he was not allowed to have friends over while his parents were not home. As the two were playing baseball, Maddie threw the ball at him and he hit it, which caused the ball to strike the 8-year-old's eye, causing her to bleed, leading Clifton to cry and scream. Phillips panicked, fearing the reaction that his dominate father would give when he got home and saw the aftermath. Phillips proceeded to drag Clifton into his home and then into his room and strangle her with a phone cord for approximately 15 minutes. Soon after, he hit her again with the baseball bat and stashed her under his bed, not long after Josh's father entered the house, Phillips went to interact with his father for a short moment and then went back to his room and found that Clifton was still alive moaning under his bed, he took off the mattress and stabbed her 11 times, killing the 8-year-old.