HUMBOLDT, Tennessee — A 12-year-old Tennessee girl has been charged with murder, accused of strangling her 8-year-old cousin while the younger girl slept. A family member said they were arguing over an iPhone.
A security camera captured the killing in the bedroom they shared in Humboldt, Tennessee, on July 15, the prosecutor said.
The recording shows the older child using bedding to strangle her niece while the younger girl slept in the top bunk, according to the affidavit from Gibson District Attorney Frederick Agee. After the child died, “the minor cleaned the victim and repositioned her body,” Agee said.
A family member told WREG-TV in Memphis that the girls got into an argument over an iPhone after they came from out of town to stay with their grandmother.
The girl was charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence after authorities obtained the video on Wednesday.
“I consider this to be one of the most disturbing violent acts ever committed by an adult or minor that my office has prosecuted,” Agee wrote in the statement.
He said he would petition the judge to prosecute the girl, who turns 13 later this month, in adult court, which would provide for “a longer sentence, either in the form of incarceration or supervised release with conditions imposed by the court.”