Arizona couple hid boy’s body behind wall, claimed he ran away: cops

An Arizona couple allegedly hid the dead body of their 16-year-old son behind a stone wall — but told police the teen ran away.

Amber-Leah Valentine and Jon Imes, both 41, reported their son missing on Feb. 25, telling deputies from the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office that they had last seen the teenager around 10 a.m. Feb. 24, the agency said this week.

But deputies were called back to the home in Kingman home on Feb. 28, when they made the gruesome discovery.

“A deceased white male was located wrapped in a blanket behind a stone wall,” the sheriff’s office said Monday.

The Mohave County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy on the boy on Saturday.

A spokesperson has not yet responded to The Post’s request for information related to the cause and manner of the teen’s death.

But an update in the case did not come until days later, when Valentine called and told police one of her other children, a 14-year-old girl, was being “held captive” by Valentine’s two roommates and had just been freed, authorities said.

Valentine and her daughter were taken to a local hospital, where Valentine “indicated” that she and Imes, her husband, “had disposed of their 16-year-old son’s body,” the sheriff’s office said.

“She admitted that she lied to Deputies when they reported him as a runaway and acknowledged that he was already deceased at the time of the report,” sheriff’s officials further alleged. “During questioning, Jon Imes admitted to disposing of his son’s body and lying to Deputies about him running away.”

Investigators later interviewed the teenage girl, who said one of her parents’ roommates, Richard Pounds, had shot her in the eye with a BB gun, police said. She gave other examples of some of the abuse she had allegedly endured at home, prompting the Arizona Department of Child Safety to step in.

Deputies charged Valentine and Imes on March 2 with felony abandonment/concealment of a dead body. Pounds was charged that same day with child abuse and aggravated assault.

All three adults remained behind bars as of Thursday morning, records show. A second roommate was questioned, but released pending further investigation.