Grandmother, man arrested after 11-year-old died at Scottsdale hotel

SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Scottsdale police say an 11-year-old boy's grandmother and an adult man have been arrested after the child died at a Scottsdale hotel.

Just before 5 p.m. Sunday, police were called to the Extended Stay America hotel near Scottsdale and Osborn roads for an unresponsive person who was not breathing.

A family member, who was staying at the hotel, called 911, according to police.

When officers arrived they located the 11-year-old victim. That boy was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police announced Monday night that the boy’s biological grandmother, 51-year-old Stephanie Marie Davis, and her husband, 33-year-old Thomas James Desharnais were both arrested in connection to the child’s death.

Police say the child had significant injuries when found, but no further details on how the child died have been released.

Davis and Desharnais both face charges of first-degree homicide and two counts of child abuse.

Davis is being held on a $3.5 million cash bond. Desharnais is being held on a $1.5 million cash bond.

Courtney Lage, a CASA Advocate and Outreach Coordinator, says this child’s death hits close to home.

She tells ABC15 she worked at this hotel for a year.

“The signs of abuse were there. The children were wearing sunglasses all the time and hats over their eyes.”

Lage says there have been multiple calls to DCS for at least three years about the children involved in this death investigation.

“It just hurts to see that families like this are breaking,” says Jordan Barclay. She has been living inside the Extended Stay Hotel since September 2021.

Police say they've received one previous call related to the family, but are not clarifying what the previous call was in relation to.

No further details on the case have been released by police.

Stay with ABC15.com as we work to learn more information.