Amalia was formerly known as Pina, perhaps a modification of the Spanish word for 'pine'. A post office was established in 1900; in 1919, the settlement was renamed after the given name for unknown reasons.[2]
In summer of 2018, at a remote site with a small camping trailer within a surrounding wall of car tires, five adults, 11 hungry children (ages 1 to 15), and later a dead child, were found. Court documents stated the children had been trained for shootings at schools.[3][4]
Federal terrorism, kidnapping, and firearms charges were brought against the five adults in March 2019;[5][6] in 2024, one was sentenced to 15 years in prison and the other four to a life sentence under a federal kidnapping statute minimum sentencing dating to the Lindbergh kidnapping.[7]
