Child killer sentenced to 25 years in prison

Photo by Jon Johnson/Gila Herald: Amber Rae (Jones) Langley, 39, of Safford, was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison for the murder of her 14-year-old autistic daughter in October 2020.

Amber Langley guilty of second-degree murder

By Jon Johnson

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SAFFORD — Nearly four years after she was fatally shot in the back of the head and thrown into a 3-by-4-foot, 1-foot-deep floating box to rot, the attacker of a 14-year-old autistic victim has been brought to justice.

Amber Rae (Jones) Langley, 39, of Safford, appeared before Gila County Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Wright on Monday and was sentenced to an aggravated 25-year prison term for second-degree murder, a Class 2 felony, for killing her daughter and dumping her body south of Safford. Wright also sentenced Langley to seven years of probation on a second count of fraudulent schemes for continuing to collect federal benefits for her disabled child for years after murdering her. Probation will begin when Langley is released from prison. Her sentence is day-for-day, but she has already served 678 days of incarceration time, making her eligible for release in late summer 2047.

Before sentencing, Judge Wright, who was handling the case for the retiring Graham County Superior Court Judge Michael D. Peterson, ruled against two motions by Langley herself to vacate her plea agreement and seek special relief. Judge Wright denied her motions and then accepted the plea agreement previously agreed to by Judge Peterson, which provided for a sentencing range for the amended charge of second-degree murder of between 20 and 27 years. The case was tried by Graham County Chief Deputy Prosecutor C. Allan Perkins and Apache County Deputy Prosecutor Garet Kartchner (who was in the Graham County Prosecutor's Office when the case began), and Langley was represented by attorneys Dennis McCarthy and Daisy Flores.

Langley was scheduled to stand trial, but a plea deal was reached just before jury selection began. Langley then filed two motions to withdraw from the deal, and Judge Peterson issued a publication ban on the proceedings while her motions were considered.

The victim was found on October 26, 2020, covered in a plastic bag and with a gunshot wound to the head. The girl was wrapped in a blanket and toys, including My Little Pony, Barbie dolls, a bracelet, and a stuffed animal, were found nearby. Her identity remained unknown for nearly two years, while Langley perpetrated a ruse that she was alive and well and continued to collect federal benefits for her. DNA evidence identified the deceased victim as Langley's daughter, and Langley was initially arrested on August 24, 2022, on charges of fraudulent schemes. The first-degree murder charge was filed on September 1, 2022.

At sentencing Monday, Judge Wright held the hearing in camera to protect the identity of the victim's siblings. The Gila Herald believes this also includes the deceased minor victim, which is why we have not included her name here. However, her name has been included in previous articles over the years and a definitive article on the murder can be read here.

Graham County Sheriff PJ Allred thanked all the investigators and officers who worked on the case until its conclusion.

“It may take a little while to figure it out, but they’re not sleeping on it, and neither are we,” Allred said. “We’re going to continue to work on each of these cases until we can find our suspects, our victims, and put a stop to the unnecessary things that are happening in our county.”

At sentencing, Perkins argued for the maximum sentence of 27 years. During his speech, Perkins showed “Marco Polo” videos that Langley made and sent to a friend in the days before and after the murder. Marco Polo is an app in which users share the videos they take with each other.

In the videos, Langley talks about taking her to a home in Tucson where she can receive more care for her special needs. And in the latest video, which Perkins said was taken after Langley murdered her daughter and dumped the body in the flotation box, Langley's demeanor remains the same as in the other two videos, with the only clue that she had just killed her daughter being her statement: “It's been a day.”

Perkins was keen to point out that the murder weapon in the Langley storage unit was an unusual weapon, being both a revolver that fires .45 caliber rounds and a double-action pistol that also fires .410 caliber shotgun shells. He said the nature of the weapon was likely the reason the fatal projectile remained lodged in the victim's skull.

Perkins ended by admitting that Langley had provided foster care for his autistic daughter, then pointed to the water box where her lifeless body had been left.

“That was his placement,” Perkins said.

Langley spoke on her behalf and not only showed no remorse for the murder, but maintained her innocence and said the prosecution had only circumstantial evidence against her. She spoke eloquently about the victim and denied taking her life.

“The prosecutor's evidence is all circumstantial, it's not evidence gathered from the crime scene,” Langley said. “It's circumstantial evidence that they put together to make me look like a monster… There's no evidence from that crime scene that shows I murdered her.”

Langley's attorney, Daisy Flores, who helped structure the plea deal, was more judicious in her argument for a more lenient sentence. She said that while “there is no excuse for the death of this little girl,” she looked for mitigating circumstances and portrayed Langley as an overworked single mother who was homeschooling several children with little or no parental assistance from her father or her then-boyfriend and who was near the end of her life.

Langley's parents have defended her daughter by phone and in letters to the court, with Amber's mother maintaining her daughter's innocence.

The victim's father, who was still married to Amber Langley but lived in another state at the time of the murder, and a brother of the victim took the stand on behalf of the prosecution. The brother described how she and the other children were traumatized after learning what had happened and the ongoing suffering they had to endure afterward.

After a brief recess, Judge Wright resumed the hearing and sentenced Langley to 25 years in prison, followed by 7 years of probation upon his release, which could be in late summer 2047.

Due to a previous gag order on the case by Graham County Superior Court Judge Michael D. Peterson, Graham County Prosecutor L. Scott Bennett politely declined to comment.