Brothers and Sisters...I Don't know what this world is coming to....

12-year-old charged in deaths of mother, brother
Prince George's County boy faces two counts of first-degree murder

By Kristen Wyatt
The Associated Press
Originally published April 24, 2006, 4:13 PM EDT
DISTRICT HEIGHTS // A 12-year-old boy described by a neighbor as having a volatile temper was charged as a juvenile with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his mother and his younger brother.

The two were found beaten and stabbed around 11 a.m. Sunday in their apartment in District Heights. Police said they found a metal bar that had been used in the beatings.

At a 12-minute hearing today, Judge Melanie M. Shaw Geter ordered that the boy remain at the Boys Village juvenile facility in Cheltenham until his next hearing on May 15. The boy appeared on a closed-circuit television feed from Boys Village.

Authorities did not release the boy's name because of his age.

Police said the boy was the oldest son of Katrina D. Powe, 31, and the brother of Mystery T. Hillian, 9, and lived with them.

Prince George's County police came to their apartment Sunday after getting a phone call and found the bodies of the mother and son. Detectives interviewed the 12-year-old at the scene and arrested him there, said Cpl. Clinton Copeland. Copeland did not know who called police.

Copeland initially said that the metal bar used in the killings was the kind normally used to secure a car's steering wheel to prevent theft, but he later corrected that information to say the bar was not a part of such a device.

Prosecutors said the 12-year-old's father was on his way to Maryland from North Carolina today. It was not known whether he was also the father of the victim. No relatives attended the boy's hearing.

Children under 14 cannot be charged with homicide as an adult in Maryland and are not eligible for the death penalty, said Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman with the office of the county state's attorney.

At 12, the defendant is believed to be one of the youngest ever charged with homicide in Maryland. If found responsible for the deaths, the boy could be held until he is 21 years of age, said Deputy State's Attorney Patricia Smoot.

"It's certainly tragic and we'll be looking at all the facts involved," Smoot said. "It's incredibly unusual to have a homicide where there's someone as young as 12 involved. I'm incredibly stunned."

The killings took place in the Penn Mar Apartments, an aging but well-kept garden apartment complex just inside the Capital Beltway around Washington. The family lived in a second-floor apartment. There were balloons, including one in the shape of a football, and a bouquet of flowers outside the building today.

Neighbors said Sunday that the older boy often baby-sat his younger brother, but was known in the neighborhood for having a violent temper.

"If he got into an argument or something, like with other kids, he would kind of explode, and like go off," Azalia Taylor told WRC-TV in Washington.

"He got into fights with my friends. He would use sticks and so forth," Kefla Taylor told the station.

Barbara Addison, 53, lives in the complex and said her grandson played with Mystery.

"It's just devastating," she said. "He was a nice kid."

Other neighbors remembered the brothers playing football and other games on a grass quadrangle at the center of the three-story brick apartment buildings. Some neighbors described the boys as normal for their ages, although others said the older boy sometimes seemed quiet and withdrawn.

"It really is crazy for him to be so possessed to kill his mother and brother," Darrell Jones, 25, said of the suspect.

Both boys attended Benjamin Foulois Elementary School in Suitland, a school system spokesman said. The 12-year-old boy is in sixth grade and the 9-year-old was a second-grader.

A letter describing what had happened was being sent home to parents, said the spokesman, John White.

"This is a situation where two boys at this school were very popular and had a lot of friends," White said. "A lot of these kids knew them."




Copyright © 2006, The Associated Press
[Edited 4/24/06 15:22pm]

could not imagine having such a monster as offspring.

Really sad situation .

CinisterCee said:

i was sure the thread was discussing a story a little closer to home to us
full story here

emm said:

Read about that one this morning - crazy!!

Oh my!