Jon Johnson Photo/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 murder in the second degree
By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – Nearly four years after being fatally shot in the back of her head and tossed into a 3X4 foot, 1-foot deep water float box to rot, a 14-year-old autistic victim’s attacker has been brought to justice.
Amber Rae (Jones) Langley, 39, of Safford, appeared in front of Gila County Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Wright on Monday and was sentenced to an aggravated term of 25 years in prison on an amended charge of murder in the second-degree – a class-2 felony, for killing her daughter and dumping her body south of Safford. Wright also sentenced Langley to a 7-year probation term on a second charge of fraudulent schemes for continuing to collect federal benefits for her disabled child for years after murdering her. The probation will begin upon Langley’s release from prison. Her sentence is day-for-day, but she has 678 days credit of time already served incarcerated, which puts her eligible for release around the end of summer 2047.
Before sentencing, Judge Wright, who handled the case for Graham County Superior Court Judge Michael D. Peterson who was out, ruled against two motions by Langley herself to back out of her plea deal and for a special action. Judge Wright denied her motions and then proceeded to accept the plea deal already accepted by Judge Peterson, which called for a sentencing range on the amended count of murder in the second degree of between 20 to 27 years. The case was tried by Graham County Chief Deputy County Attorney C. Allan Perkins and Apache County Deputy County Attorney Garet Kartchner (who was at the Graham County Attorney’s Office when the case began) and Ms. Langley was represented by attorneys Dennis McCarthy and Daisy Flores.
Langley was scheduled to go to trial but then a plea deal was struck just before jury selection was to begin. Langley then filed two motions to get out of the deal and Judge Peterson issued a gag order on the proceedings while her motions were being adjudicated.
The victim was found on Oct. 26, 2020, covered in a plastic bag with a fatal gunshot to her head. The girl was wrapped in a blanket and toys, including My Little Pony, Barbie dolls, a bracelet, and a stuffed animal, were found alongside. Her identity went 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 Aug. 24, 2022, on charges of fraudulent schemes artifices. The charge of murder in the first degree was filed on Sept. 1, 2022.
During the sentencing on Monday, Judge Wright sealed the hearing to protect the identities of the victim’s siblings. The Gila Herald believes that includes the deceased minor victim as well, so we have not included her name here. However, her name has been included in previous articles over the years of coverage and one can read a definitive article on the murder here.
Graham County Sheriff P.J. Allred credited all the investigators and agents who worked on the case to its conclusion.
“It might take a little while to figure it out, (but) they don’t sleep on it; we don’t sleep on it,” Allred said. “We will continue to work on each of these until we can come out with our suspects, our victims, and so we can put an end to the unnecessary things that are happening in our county.”
At the sentencing, Perkins argued for the maximum allowable term of 27 years. During his allocution, Perkins showed “Marco Polo” videos Langley made and sent to a friend the days leading up to and after the murder. Marco Polo is an application in which users share videos they take with each other.
In the videos, Langley speaks about taking the victim to a home in Tucson where she can get more care for her special needs. And in the last video, which Perkins alleges was taken after Langley murdered her daughter and disposed of the body in the float box, Langley’s demeanor remains the same as in the other two videos with the only clue that she had just murdered her daughter being her stating, “It’s been a day.”
Perkins made a point to point out that the murder weapon that was located in Langley’s storage unit was an unusual weapon being both a revolver that shoots .45 caliber bullets and being dual-action that also shoots .410 shotgun shells. He said the nature of the weapon was likely why the fatal projectile remained lodged in the victim’s skull.
Perkins finished by admitting Langley did provide a placement for her autistic daughter, and then showed the water box where her lifeless body was left.
“That was her placement,” Perkins said.
Langley spoke on her behalf and not only didn’t show remorse for the murder but claimed her innocence and said the prosecution only had circumstantial evidence against her. She spoke eloquently about the victim and denied ending her life.
“The prosecutor’s evidence is all circumstantial, it is not evidence that was taken from the crime scene,” Langley said. “It is evidence that is circumstantial that they have pieced together to make me out to look like a monster . . . There is no evidence from that crime scene to show that I murdered her.”
Langley’s attorney who helped structure the plea deal, Daisy Flores, was more judicious in her argument for a lenient sentence. Flores said while “there is no excuse for causing the death of this little girl”, she looked for mitigating factors and portrayed Langley as an overworked, single mother who was homeschooling multiple children with little to no assistance parenting from the father or then boyfriend and just reached the end of her rope.
Langley’s parents spoke in her defense via telephone and by letter to the court, with Amber’s mother professing her daughter’s innocence.
The victim’s father – who was still married to Amber Langley but was estranged and living in another state at the time of the murder – and a sibling to the victim spoke for the prosecution. The sibling described how she and the other children were traumatized after learning what happened and the continued suffering they dealt with in the aftermath.
After a brief recess, Judge Wright reconvened the hearing and sentenced Langley to 25 years in prison, to be followed by 7 years on probation upon her release, which could be the end of summer, 2047.
Due to a previous gag order on the case by Graham County Superior Court Judge Michael D. Peterson, Graham County Attorney L. Scott Bennett politely declined to comment.
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