Joshua Earl Patrick Phillips is an American murderer from Jacksonville, Florida who was convicted in July 1999 of murdering 8-year-old Maddie Clifton in November 1998 when he was 14 years old. He is currently serving a sentence of life in prison. The murder was the subject of national television coverage, including a documentary on 48 Hours titled "Why did Josh Kill?"
Early life
Phillips was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on March 17, 1984. His father, Steve Phillips, had dominated his wife and son with a violent temper. In Too Young to Kill: 15 Shocking Crimes, Josh stated that at one point in his life, he walked into his parents’ room and saw his father's fist smashed through a wall, which made him terrified of his father. Steve imposed strict rules in his son, and was also a drug addict and alcoholic.
The disappearance
On November 3, 1998, at around 5:00 pm, Maddie Clifton disappeared. The first suspect was a neighbor who was arrested twice around 15 to 20 years earlier for sexual assault cases, but charges were dropped in both incidents. The neighbor failed a lie detector test in relation to Maddie's disappearance, but provided an alibi. The police decided to call off the search for Maddie, but the community, including over 400 volunteers, persisted. A reward was offered, initially worth $50,000 but later doubled. One of those volunteers was Phillips himself. The FBI later became involved in the case. Flyers were distributed around town, including at a local Jaguars-Bengals game. The TV series America's Most Wanted also offered to broadcast the story.
Murder case
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 later that day at his school and 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 stated that the event happened when he was home alone and 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 hit Maddie's eye. She then began to bleed, cry, and scream. Knowing that his father would be home soon, Phillips panicked, fearing his father's reaction when he got home, so he decided to drag Maddie into his house and took her to his room where he proceeded to strangle her with a phone cord for approximately 15 minutes. Soon after, he hit her again with the baseball bat and stuffed her under the base of his bed. When Josh's father returned home, he went to interact with him for a while and returned to his room. When he discovered that Maddie was still alive, moaning under his bed, he then removed the mattress and stabbed her 11 times, killing her. Phillips' trial was held in Polk County, Florida, and he was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was not eligible for the death penalty since he was under 16 when he committed the murder. While the autopsy did not reveal any sexual assault, Maddie's body was found naked from waist down, and Phillips stated that her clothes came off while he was dragging her body to his room. The murder appears to have been motivated by Phillips' fear of his abusive and alcoholic father, who would have been very angry if he found Maddie in their house. Phillips stated on the TV program Too Young to Kill: 15 Shocking Crimes that if he could take it back, he would, subsequently breaking down into tears. Phillips attended Blackstone Career Institute, a distance learning program and graduated with a paralegal degree in 2007. He works as a paralegal, helping other inmates with their appeals. Sometime after the trial, Maddie Clifton's parents, Steve and Sheila Clifton, divorced after 25 years of marriage. In 2000, Phillips' father Steve was killed in a car accident.
Appeals
In 2002, an appeals court upheld Phillips' conviction. In December 2004, Melissa Phillips began to seek a new trial for her son, noting that his young age at the time of the murder should have carried more weight in his sentence. In 2005, new hearing dates were set for Phillips. In 2008, two of the officials behind his sentence, States Attorney Harry Shorstein and Sheriff Nat Glover, confirmed their belief that Phillips deserved a jail sentence, but admitted to having second thoughts about the no-parole life sentence for the 14 year old. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sentencing juveniles to mandatory life in prison without parole is unconstitutional. It was unclear at that time if Phillips' attorney would seek re-sentencing. In November 2015, Phillips' attorneys were considering the Supreme Court ruling as a basis to file a re-sentencing hearing. In September 2016, after Phillips' attorneys successfully appealed the court, he was granted a new sentencing hearing as a result of retroactive application of the Supreme Court's ruling which declared his current sentence, mandatory life in prison without parole, unconstitutional for juvenile offenders. A resentencing date was initially set for February 2017. In February 2017, Phillips' lawyer asked for more time to prepare and subsequently a new sentencing hearing was set for June 2017. At the hearing, Clifton's mother requested that his sentence be upheld. On November 17, 2017, Phillips was re-sentenced to life in prison, but is eligible for new re-sentencing in 2023. On December 17, 2019, this sentence of life in prison was upheld by Florida First District Court Of Appeal because, it said, Phillips’ life sentence will be reviewed again and could be modified at a 25-year review “based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.” He is currently imprisoned in the Cross City Correctional Institution.
In the media
The murder of Maddie Clifton was featured on the Season 2 premiere of Killer Kids. Phillips was interviewed by British journalist Susanna Reid for the ITV documentary Children Who Kill. Phillips' murder story and ensuing trial was featured in episode 112 of the podcast Sword and Scale on August 19, 2018.
