A 12-year-old girl from Tennessee has been charged with first-degree murder after security cameras at her grandmother's house allegedly captured her smothering her 8-year-old cousin with blankets. The incident occurred at their grandmother's home in Humboldt, where the younger girl, Demeria Hollingsworth, was spending the summer.
Incident Details:
According to the police, the surveillance video purportedly shows the older girl suffocating Demeria in a bunk bed they shared, then cleaning up the scene and repositioning her cousin's body.
Rayana Smith, Demeria's mother, expressed her heartbreak to WREG-TV, recalling the last moments she saw her daughter. "Last time I seen my baby, she was smiling, giving me kisses, telling me she will see me when it’s time for her to come back home. She’s never coming back home," said a distraught Smith.
Family Response:
The grieving mother has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral expenses. "I just lost my baby, the most beautiful child of God," she wrote on the fundraising site.
"The pain I’m feeling is unbearable. I have to now live life without her in this crazy world."
Smith mentioned that the cousins had recently argued over an iPhone. "When they told me about that, I should have just gone to get my kid,” she lamented. “But they were having fun for the summer and I didn’t think she would kill my baby.”
Legal Proceedings:
Prosecutor Frederick Agee stated that he is petitioning juvenile court to try the 12-year-old as an adult, describing the case as "disturbingly violent.
" Agee emphasized the severity of the crime, noting that it is one of the most violent acts his office has prosecuted, whether committed by an adult or juvenile.
The girl, who turns 13 next week, faces charges of murder and tampering with evidence. Due to her age, her identity has not been disclosed to the public.
This tragic case highlights the profound impact of juvenile violence and the complexities of prosecuting young offenders. As the legal process unfolds, the community grapples with the shocking loss of a young life and the troubling actions of another.
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