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JACKSONVILLE, Fla, Jan．10－A 14-year-old boy was arrested today after the rotten body of an 8-year-old girl who was his neighbor was found hidden in his bedroom．She had been stabbed and beaten．
The boy, Joshua Earl Patrick Philip, admitted and was charged with murder in the death of the girl, Maddie Clifton, who disappeared on Jan．3, Sheriff Nat Glover said．
Joshua, who has no criminal record, would not be eligible(符合條件)for the death punishment because of his age．Detectives found a knife and a baseball bat believed to be the weapons used to kill the girl, the Sheriff said．
The girl had been stabbed at least nine times and was struck in the head, Sheriff Glove said at a news conference．The authorities did not say whether she has been attacked sexually, nor did they give motive for the attack．
The boy's mother, Melissa Philips, grew suspicious after the police searched her home on Monday and detected an odor(怪味),the Sheriff said．This morning she pulled aside the frame of the bed, saw a child's feet and called an officer, he said．
Maddie's body was found under a sheet of wood supporting the frame of the water bed, which was filled, Sheriff Glover said, adding, “He put her under the bed and taped her up in it．”
Investigators believe the third-grader was killed in the boy's house shortly after she disappeared last Tuesday, touching off a widespread search．
On Friday, Maddie's parents, Steve and Shelia Clifton, made an earnest request for her return．
The boy's house, like others in the neighborhood, had been searched three times．During the third search on Monday, the mother had at first said she thought the odor came from family pets．
Hundreds of volunteers had distributed thousands of leaflets with Maddie's picture since she disappeared that evening, about 30 minutes after she went out to play with friends．
The girl's house is one of the well-kept, single-family homes in the older working-class of Jacksonville, Yellow ribbons still hung from the trees this morning．
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