I’m looking for Maddie. She says it’s Maddie. What’s her last name? Clifton. How old is she? She’s 8 years old. A neighbor calls police to her home across the street from Maddie’s home. She’s made a gruesome discovery in her 14-year-old’s bedroom. A body is stuffed in his water bed. We found Maddie Clifton this morning at about 7:30 a.m.
She was dead. I’m here to announce the arrest of Joshua Earl Patrick Phillip. Jacksonville, Florida. It’s here that we find 8-year-old Madeline Ray Clifton, known as Maddie. She lived with her dad Steve, her mom Sheila, and her older sister Jessie. Maddie loved sports, especially basketball, and was always outside doing something. You couldn’t keep her in.
She just wanted to play with everyone all the time. As well as her love of sports, she was also great at dance and played music, too, showing real talent for the piano. One minute she was performing on stage, a poised and graceful ballerina, and the next she was on the pitch playing football, ready to get stuck in.
One thing her family said stood out about her was her kindness and empathy that showed itself from a young age. She hated seeing people by themselves. Anyone that looked lonely or uncomfortable, you could always rely on Maddie to walk right over, introduce herself, music] and get them included. The Lakewood neighborhood on Jacksonville’s Southside, November 3rd, 1998.
At 5:00 outside. Her choice of sport for that day was golf, and she was hitting balls up and down the street. All the residents in the area were close. Everyone knew everyone, and Maddie was a frequent face at most people’s doors, asking if other kids could come out to play. At 6:30 p.m.
, it was time for dinner, and Sheila called Maddie and Jessie inside. Jessie walked in alone and said she hadn’t been with Maddie and didn’t know where she was. Everyone she would normally be playing with also had no idea. None of the parents had seen her, either. After only a short while calling out and looking around, Sheila called 911.
I’m looking for Maddie. She says it’s Maddie. What’s her last name? Clifton. How old is she? She’s 8 years old. Where was she playing at around that time? Right around the house here. She had on her shorts and a red T-shirt. When’s the last time anybody saw her? 4:30 to 5:00 5:30 was the last time we saw her.
And I was letting the kids play out here for a little while, and then she just she disappeared. Later that night, just about everyone in the area was out with flashlights. All you could hear was Maddie’s name being called over and over. As the temperature dropped and the sky darkened, the search only gathered more people.
Neighbors said Maddie was everyone’s daughter, everyone’s sister, everyone’s friend. With so many other young children in the area that all played out together all the time, it was hard for this not to resonate. As the sun rose, it was now lighter and slightly warmer, and it brought a fresher and clearer state of mind and vision.
But frustratingly, there were no clues anywhere. No items of clothing, nothing that music] linked anything to Maddie. By the 24-hour mark, residents said it was almost circus-like. If you weren’t at work or school, you were out searching. Cars were being stopped coming in and out. National Guard troops were called in to go through the sewer system, dumpsters, open manhole covers, and check miles music] upon miles of woodland and ponds.
The FBI were also soon involved, and a $100,000 reward was on the table. And neighbors’ houses were being turned upside down. One neighbor of Maddie’s was quickly honed in on. A man named Larry who lived five doors down from the Clifton’s. They kept coming back to him when it seemed he might have been one of the last people to see her when he told police that he was chipping golf balls in his yard.
He saw Maddie, who was doing the same thing, just between his house and another neighbor’s. She had walked off to get more golf balls, and he never saw her again. He was interviewed by officers about 10 times, once for 8 hours. Larry had been arrested almost 20 years beforehand in two separate incidents for sexual battery.
In both cases, the charges were dropped. He admitted that he had failed a lie detector test, but insisted he had nothing to hide. He even said he would give them whatever samples they needed and turn everything over. “I’m a prime suspect. I’m 45 years old. I play with children, and I have a criminal record. That makes me a suspect,” Larry said.
Police had spoken to every neighbor, but six people more intensely. However, after 4 days, they ended the neighborhood search, and they started to concentrate on following leads that took them out of the area. Lieutenant Mark Foxworth, a police homicide detective, said they did not have any evidence that anyone had kidnapped her.
“We’re not looking at this right now as an abduction or sexual abduction. The child could simply have walked away. We just don’t know right now, but as time passes, it becomes more possible that foul play was involved,” he said. It was now a week since Maddie went missing, and a neighbor across the street was about to make an awful discovery.
14-year-old Joshua Phillips and his family had been out looking day and night for Maddie. Joshua and Maddie played together a lot. Josh. Hey. Hi. So, she’s across the street, and then she’s also from across the street. Hi, Josh. His mother, Missy, had been walking past his room lost in thought when she peeked inside.
It was such a mess and full of rubbish. She couldn’t have him sleeping like this. So, she grabbed a bag and started cleaning up. Maddie’s missing person’s flyer lay on one of his bedside tables. Joshua had a water bed, and as she picked things up off the floor, she saw a wet spot. Missy had been smelling something odd for a couple of days, and this had to be the cause of it.
Leaking water that was creating damp and thus a horrible smell. She pulled up the mattress and noticed that the frame was collapsing. music] How on earth was he even sleeping on this? The bed was clearly broken, so she started lifting everything off it to fix it. She saw a small sock intertwined in the frame, but when she went to pull it out, it was stuck.
Getting down on her hands and knees, she looked under the bed frame before recoiling in horror. A small foot was in front of her. She said her eyes knew what she was looking at and what this meant, but her brain was fighting connecting the dots. In a panic, Missy ran right out of the front door and straight over to a police officer and pulled him upstairs.
Within minutes, tape was going up everywhere, and Missy’s house was full of people. She had just found the decomposing body of Maddie Clifton under her 14-year-old son’s bed. As they removed her tiny body, her hand was found clutching the frame. The police had searched the Phillips’ house a couple of times and also noticed the weird smell, but everyone put it down to the fact that Joshua had several birds as pets.
A neighbor calls police to her home across the street from Maddie’s home. She’s made a gruesome discovery in her 14-year-old’s bedroom. A body is stuffed in his water bed. As news that a body had been found started to spread, an impromptu press circle formed on the street. Onlookers, neighbors, and friends then tuned in to a televised press conference announcing that they had found the 8-year-old.
Residents said that the air felt really thick and heavy with such sadness. And you can really feel it through the photos. It was a dark day for everyone. Now retired veteran prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda said this was a devastating murder that will forever be in the memories of anyone in Jacksonville at the time.
Historically, it was one of the most horrific murders. There is no doubt about that. Everyone was talking about it. When you’ve got a missing girl, and this missing girl turns out to be dead, I don’t think there was anyone who didn’t know about this, or who wasn’t praying for her, or attempting to find her. Boxes of flowers, food, and missing person’s posters were carried to Maddie’s house.
Whatever help anyone could give, anything they could offer, there was still no shortage of people who wanted to help. We found music] Maddie Clifton this morning at about 7:30 a.m. She was dead. Sheriff Nat Glover struggled to contain his emotion, too, but the transition from a missing person’s case to a murder investigation had to now happen, and emotions must be put aside.
The autopsy showed that Maddie had been beaten with a baseball bat, stabbed in the throat, and all over her body before being stuffed into the water bed in the bedroom. The knife and baseball bat were still lying around. Her shorts and underwear had been removed and they were found near her body. But the examination showed no signs of sexual assault.
Steven and Missy Phillips met their son at the police station. Missy was in tears knowing that while she was there, the Clifton’s were still at home hopeful and praying to God that this was all a mistake. Steve told his son to tell the truth and to start telling it quickly. So, with his dad next to him, Joshua told what he said had happened and he didn’t deny killing her.
Maddie had knocked his door wanting to play together. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, something she had done lots of times. Joshua said he told her he had to do his chores, but she persisted and didn’t want to leave. He finally agreed but told her he could only be outside for a few minutes because his dad would be getting home soon.
He said he was scared of his dad who drank a lot and was violent, so he didn’t want to get caught breaking the rules. Joshua said they had started playing baseball in his backyard by the pool at around 5:15. At one point, she threw the ball and when he hit it back, it hit her in the face causing her to bleed by her eye. He said Maddie fell down screaming and panicking, he dragged her inside so forcefully that some of her clothes had come off too.
He was scared of getting into trouble but Maddie was really upset. So, he hit Maddie in the head with a baseball bat leaving her unconscious. He shoved her into his bed and went downstairs acting like nothing had happened. When his dad Steve came home, he and Joshua spoke for a bit before Joshua went back upstairs.
He then heard Maddie groaning under the bed so he removed the mattress and pulled her back out. He cut her throat twice with a pocketknife music] and stabbed her in the chest seven times. He then pushed her back under his bed where she remained for the next six days. The evidence technician David Chase was a crime scene investigator for 16 years and he said this was one of the worst murder scenes he had ever worked on.
He said that the evidence suggested that what Joshua had said about her being alive when he came upstairs was true. She had survived being hit over the head three times before being stuffed into that small music] space and eventually being pulled back out and stabbed to death. Because of his age, the police did not release Joshua’s name immediately, so it was only his family that knew he had been arrested.
Missy was beside herself and said, “That’s not the way he is. He’s never hurt anybody.” She said the only thing that had been different about her son was that he had been slightly quieter normal during the week that Maddie was missing. But he was a 14-year-old boy who was quiet and sometimes moody anyway and whose friend had just vanished.
So, was that really anything to cause alarm bells? No, she thought. And if this wasn’t all awful enough, a big reason Maddie would always knock on Joshua’s door was because she didn’t want him to be lonely and would always make the effort so he had someone to talk to. The Phillips family had moved into the area about 2 years before.
Video on Joshua’s camera showed Maddie and Jesse in the front yard. And there’s a neighbor from across the street. Josh! Hey. Hi. So, she’s across the street. And then she’s also from across the street. Hi guys. The three of them were just being silly playing around with each other and his puppy. There really was no indication that he had anything but nice feelings towards Maddie.
What little was known about Joshua at the time was nothing bad. Every source says music] there were never any alarm bells so to speak. He was a lot quieter definitely and kept to himself, but he performed well in school, liked to chill out on his computer and read books. He loved animals, especially his birds and had never been in any trouble at all.
I’m here to announce the arrest of Joshua Earl Patrick Phillips. When everything came out, the principal at Joshua’s school said that the students couldn’t fathom him doing something like this. They say, “Josh, Josh.” Like they say his name two or three times. They cannot believe this.
There is nothing here that would make you think he would do what he is accused of doing. One neighbor who lived next door to the Phillips family always let his 8-year-old son play with Joshua. He said he was a good kid. He was always, “Yes, sir and no, sir.” to me. The collective consensus was just this was completely shocking. Maddie’s mom Sheila was much the same.
She did know Joshua and never was there ever a single time where she thought something might be wrong with Maddie hanging out with him. Joshua later said that his father was a drug addict and alcoholic and was violent towards both him and his mom. He said his dad imposed strict rules and hated other children coming over when he was not there.
Missy said she never understood why, but he particularly hated girls. Missy said she had prayed hard to have a boy because she was really worried that Steve would not like a girl at all. Joshua said, “If I did something wrong, I just wanted to hide from him. I didn’t want him to know and then what happened, I felt there was no turning back.
” Missy said, “So many times I’d hear people remark, ‘What’s wrong with that family? Why didn’t they see this and why didn’t they notice that?’ Because there wasn’t anything there out of the ordinary for me to notice. I came home from work that night, there was nothing wrong with my house. As a parent, you start to second-guess yourself.
Was I too lenient? Was I too strict? What did I miss?” One patrol sergeant during the search for Maddie said he had spoken to Joshua the day before Maddie was found in the very bedroom where she was hidden. He said he was cool as a cucumber. He was sat on the bed petting his dog and was just unemotional and unaffected by law enforcement being in his house.
music] It’s chilling thinking about it now. But as people walked up and down his street into the night searching for the 8-year-old, he had been asleep literally on top of her body. On November 14th, Maddie was laid to rest and the streets were lined with everyone holding hands and showing their love for the family.
As cars went past, a trail of yellow flowers lay behind them. It was just a sea of people, purple balloons and yellow flowers. As you are aware, Joshua music] Phillips, age 14, has been arrested and is in custody at the juvenile detention music] center. He was arrested for the murder of Maddie Clifton which occurred on November the 3rd, 1998.
This Thursday, the case will be presented to the Duval County Grand Jury. I will urge a first-degree murder indictment be returned. He will be tried as an adult. Five days later on November the 19th, a grand jury returned a first-degree murder charge and the State Attorney Harry Shorstein said that the 14-year-old would be tried as an adult.
Harry Shorstein said the citizens of Jacksonville should be assured every appropriate resource in my office will be devoted to making sure Maddie Clifton’s murderer is brought to justice. The murder of this little girl has shaken me just as it has the rest of our community. Because of intense pre-trial publicity in Jacksonville, Judge Charles Arnold moved the trial elsewhere and a year later, Joshua Phillips would be in court.
His defense team painted a picture of someone who lived in a house where he walked on eggshells, terrified to do anything wrong, abused and scared enough of his father that when Maddie was injured, it sent him into a complete panic. They said that Maddie’s death was an accident or manslaughter. “Joshua Phillips is not a monster, but because of an act that began as an accident and deteriorated through panic that bordered on madness.
” his lawyer said. His team did not call a single witness and in the end, Joshua never said a word in court about what he said had happened that day. But the prosecution said his story did not make sense and never had. “What he’s saying was that this started out as an accident. We never believed that based on the physical evidence and based on our evaluation of all the evidence.” they said.
They argued that there was no indication that he was ever playing baseball with her and the autopsy just did not support where he said he had hit her in the eye with the ball. When he said he dragged her inside and her clothes had come off, they said again, “This didn’t stack up.” There was a lack of dirt and sand on her body.
There was also no blood found in his backyard or leading up to his room. This suggested that Maddie was not injured before she entered his room. The prosecution also mentioned that before the murder, Joshua was apparently watching pornography on his computer and although the evidence said she had not been sexually assaulted, they did want to make mention of how this all looked when added up.
This gave them grounds to suggest that it was a premeditated killing. He had lured her into the house to hurt her. After a tough trial, the verdict was in. We the jury find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in the indictment. Joshua Earl Patrick Phillips, it is the sentence of this court that you be confined in prison without the benefit of parole for the rest of your natural life.
Joshua was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and at 15 years old, he became inmate number J11775. We’ve always taken the position that the correct approach to to juvenile crime and to crime prevention is to deal aggressively with the very serious juvenile offenders. Joshua appealed in 2002, but his conviction was upheld.
As the years went by, Maddie’s name was still being uttered everywhere. A memorial playground was put up at her school, which everyone agreed was the perfect tribute to someone that not only loved to be playing outside, but also loved getting other kids to play together and make friends. In prison, Joshua said, “I start thinking, man, it really sucks.
I missed out on this and that.” And as soon as I get here, I think, “What did she miss out on?” But the entire time I was putting myself in a fantasy world that nothing had happened. That was my defense mechanism for everything when I was a kid. music] I never made the decision to ignore it. I just did. I’ve grown a lot.
This has taught me to understand just about anybody’s pain. I’ve learned to almost completely put myself in somebody else’s shoes and really feel whatever they’re feeling. It’s taught me to be a better person. Following a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that found that mandatory life sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional, this threw Joshua and many other sentences up in the air.
So, in 2017, Joshua was back in court to be resentenced. As the evidence was all read out again, Joshua looked down and shielded his eyes as David Chase, the now retired Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office evidence technician, described how Maddie was found. Joshua talked for about 5 minutes on the stand directly to Maddie’s family.
I’ve wanted to say this for a very long time. And uh I’m grateful that this chance to do so in person uh has arrived. Uh I don’t pretend to know or understand your pain or to grasp the void that I have created in your lives. I can say this. I do understand pain. I have become quite intimate with suffering. Growing up in prison, I have seen many dark things.
And I’ve been some dark places. Many times throughout this journey, I came directly close to ending my life just to escape it all. Guilt, despair, pain, hopelessness, fear, and shame. Each time, I was somehow able to continue on, mostly because I couldn’t stand to put my mother to any more trauma. She’s been through enough.
I did something horrible. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for what happened. snorts] Even now, after all these years, it is just unfathomable that all this could have occurred. It tears my mind asunder to know that I stole such a precious life from you, from the world. I pray every day that you’re able to live your lives in spite of the injury I’ve caused you.
I’m supremely grateful to have an opportunity of physical freedom. And any joy that arises in my heart is immediately tempered by the knowledge that these proceedings bring all involved once again face to face with the horror that occurred in 1998. When I walk the wreck yard here in chains, I look at the sky through mesh wiring and I thank God repeatedly for giving me hope.
My next breath is always devoted to wishing peace and healing upon you all. My hopes, fears, and wishes probably mean nothing to you, but they are there all the same. May you know peace. May you be free from suffering. May God bless you and heal your wounds as much as possible. Maddie’s family also spoke. During these past few days, I’ve sat here and I’m in this courtroom and I have listened to all of the classes music] that the defendant has been able to take.
What classes has Maddie been able to take over the past 18 years? I didn’t walk her down the aisle at her wedding, and we were not given the gift of her grandchildren. All taken by one evil, senseless act. And we don’t know why. We were raising our girls in a Christian home where we prayed every day. What we didn’t know was that the devil himself had moved in right across the street.
The same devil that picked up his flashlight and proceeded to look for her, knowing good and well where she was the whole time. Now, has he really changed? I hope he has. That’s a good thing if he has. I will concede that he’s been a model prisoner. The question is, does that guarantee that he will be a model citizen out in society when he has access to pornography? And number two, he has access to young girls.
The most troubling thing about this case to me is that we still have that why question out there. He has all these certificates and he’s a monk now and has found peace with his life, and that’s that’s great. But I I I still don’t get to talk to Maddie. I still don’t get to watch her graduate from high school, watch her graduate from college, watch her get married.
I don’t get to do any of that, and I just don’t think that it’s fair. I don’t think it’s fair that he does. Forgiveness is not in my hands. I am a Christian. I believe in God. And I feel like at the end of the day, it is not my That’s not my job. As they wait for a final decision from the judge, Jessie is enjoying her new home.
This is Maddie’s room right here. her childhood home. kept our doors open and would yell each other yell at each other through here in the middle of the night and um tell each other stories and she’d end up in my bedroom and can I come sleep with you? where she says she plans to stay forever.
This was the best years of my life. And and so being here, it just feels like I’m home. snorts and clears throat] He received another life sentence with the possibility of review after 25 years. Uh Mr. Phillips, this is a sad day for me. I have had to go through this process, and I’m just trying to do my duty the best I could.
And I I do wish you well. I think there is a music] an opportunity uh even uh with life in prison to have a meaningful life. Okay. Thank you. Okay. We’ll stand adjourned. Thank you. In 2020, Joshua appealed, but the Florida Supreme Court rejected this. And in mid-2025, the now 41-year-old was back in court again to ask for another review of his sentence, citing the completion of his 25-year mandatory term.
Right now at music] 6:00, this is a look at the new mugshot for convicted killer Joshua Phillips. music] Phillips is now expected to ask a judge to review his life sentence. I am so sorry that the victim’s family is uh is having to go through this again. That’s the voice of veteran prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda.
He is preparing to handle the review hearing for this case if and when it happens. Joshua Phillips was brought back to the Duval County Jail from Suwannee County Correctional last week. In court documents dated last month, Phillips formally applied for a sentence review, giving a timeline of events. In the filings, Phillips writes, “As of this date, defendant has completed his 25-year mandatory term and now respectfully applies for an individualized sentencing review.
” This is still going through the court system, so we will have to keep checking in on that. Every single time he’s back in court, Maddie’s family are right back there, too. But more than that, both physically and mentally, they are then back in 1998. After he was convicted, District Attorney Harry Shorstein and Sheriff Nat Glover admitted that they had had second thoughts about him getting a life sentence without the possibility of parole due to his age of 14 years old.
Harry said he had no issues with charging him as an adult or with first-degree murder. They were the right decisions at the time because the crime was so awful. But he said he regrets not offering a second-degree murder plea, which would have given the judge more discretion. He said it was a draconian sentence.
If there was a case for executive clemency or parole, I would support it. Not for it to be done today, but for reconsideration of the life sentence. When death happens, especially a death like this, everything big changes and everything you might see once is so small changes, too. The silence is often deafening.
Jessie said it moved the course of her life, and she started to lose her identity. She described herself as a nerdy kid growing up, never wanting to be with the popular kids, often being picked on. But suddenly, with the murder of her sister, everyone wanted to know her. She felt as though she was no longer Jessie Clifton.
She was Maddie Clifton’s sister. And being stuck in that place of never wanting to forget she was her sister, but also grieve her sister, and then try to navigate growing up and being her own person, it must have been so challenging. Missy Phillips, Joshua’s mom, had a very similar journey, one that even ended up bringing her and Jessie together.
Two years after Joshua was sentenced, his dad, her husband, would be killed in a car crash. Missy just wanted to pull away from society and split her time between Jacksonville and North Central Florida, hoping she could reinvent herself. But Jessie, much with the same energy that Maddie had, started turning up at her house to walk the dog for her.
She would sit at the window waiting for Missy to pull up in the driveway with her shopping, so she could run outside and help her carry it all in. No matter how anyone looked at Missy as she walked past, Jessie, just the way her little sister always did, would not music] have anyone feel alone. Jessie said she was such a sweet, kind person.
She didn’t deserve what happened. I feel like she feels everyone was against her. She found Maddie and I cannot even imagine that. And then to realize what her son did, that is a lot for one person to handle. Missy would send the family a Christmas card each year and through a lot of the earlier court hearings, both Sheila and Missy would sit together.
“She’s a mother, she’s a mom.” Sheila said. Missy said, “We have a shared sorrow, but I think as mothers we understand each other’s position. I think if the situation was reversed, she would be doing the same thing that I’m doing. I can’t change what was. I can only move forward and help my son because he is still here and he is worth saving.
” And Maddie’s mom and dad, Sheila and Steve, would divorce after 25 years of marriage and having known each other since high school. Jessie said, “Put simply, they handled grief differently in such a way that they couldn’t stay in sync.” Jessie said that getting used to pulling only three plates, music] three forks, and three knives from the cupboard instead of four was awful every time.
It took her 3 years to stop automatically grabbing things in fours. And then Sheila, unable to live in the same house anymore, moved out. So Jessie had to get used to putting everything in twos now for her and her dad. And there’s a neighbor from across the street. Josh. Hey. Hi. So she’s across the street. And then she’s also from across the street. Hi, Josh.
When you think of the reason that Maddie Clifton knocked on his door that day, to let him know that she was there to be his friend, it makes an already sad case even more so. It seemed that Maddie was really a little light in that small community. She clearly brought a lot of love and joy to people’s lives.
Maddie’s selflessness, her kindness, her emotional maturity shone at such a young age. She just wanted to be a friend to everyone. And what started as such a pure intention and interaction on November 3rd turned into the most unthinkable tragedy for so many people.
