WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: In the heart of Sin City, a night of domestic violence unfolded on June 11, but little did the Metro police know that the subsequent 911 call would lead them to witness the worst case of child abuse they had ever encountered. After responding to the distress call near Flamingo Road and Valley View Boulevard, the officers will forever be haunted with what they found at the scene.
Who are Travis Doss and Amanda Stamper?
Living inside a cramped one-bedroom apartment was Travis Doss, 31, and Amanda Stamper, 33, along with seven children under the age of 11, all fathered by Doss. The horrifying discovery came to light when the police attempted to enter the bolted apartment and eventually unlocked the door. Two children, aged nine and eleven, were found locked in a dog cage, their young lives marred by unthinkable cruelty. Another four children bore the scars of severe beatings, their bodies a canvas of bruises. One child was so emaciated and battered that his own father thought he had beaten him to death. The little one had "two black eyes that were swollen shut, multiple marks and bruises all over his body, and he was emaciated," the police later recounted.
As the children were led out into the daylight, they bravely began to detail the unimaginable horrors they had endured. They spoke of beatings with belts, cords, and even a frying pan at the hands of their own father. One emaciated child, confined to the cage, revealed how he was denied sufficient food and had to share meager rations with his siblings or eat discarded scraps. "He hit my face in the cage because I was squished up trying to get out of the cage because I didn't do anything and I was freaking out," the child tearfully recounted to the officers. The haunting video evidence from police bodycams sent shockwaves through the community.
A mother's fear
Stamper, the children's mother, told 8 News Now she had been living in constant fear of Doss and his violent temper. She had become a victim of severe domestic abuse herself, leaving her terrified and unable to seek help for her innocent children. Doss had control over her, using fear to manipulate and silence her, she alleged. Stamper told officers that Doss had shown her a picture of the child from the cage and said he had kicked the child in the head so hard he thought he was dead. She reportedly told police she believed the child "looked dead for the last five days."
"I was abused as well, not just them. He would use my children and my family if I was ever to call the police; like he would go find my family and my kids, he's just a really violent person," Stamper told the media, adding that she lived in constant terror, fearing the repercussions if she dared to reach out for help. Her public defender argued that "if she had done anything, she would have been subjected to serious, serious abuse."
'I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner'
The devastating truth came to light when Stamper sought refuge in a Walgreens store, fearing for her life after Doss "threatened to kill her." The police were alerted, and it was then that she mustered the courage to reveal the horrifying conditions her children endured behind closed doors. "I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner," Stamper expressed her remorse to the officers. Deep inside, she knew that calling the police was the only way to ensure her children's safety, even if it came at great personal risk.
In court, Doss faced more than 40 charges, including multiple counts of child abuse and sex trafficking involving Stamper. Stamper herself faced seven charges of child abuse, one for each child. She maintained that she had not harmed the children herself, as she knew that any action on her part would expose her to even more severe abuse from Doss.
Prosecutors acknowledged that Stamper worked as a sex worker under Doss's direction but emphasized that she was aware of the children's alleged abuse. The case shocked the nation, and an outpouring of support and sympathy was directed toward the innocent children who had suffered so immensely. As the court proceedings began, well-wishers hoped for justice for the innocent victims. While Doss and Stamper pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, July 25, the wheels of justice have started turning and would hopefully deliver a verdict in the shocking case.
