HUMBOLDT, Tenn. — A 12-year-old Tennessee girl has been charged with murder after she allegedly smothered her sleeping 8-year-old cousin.
Relatives said they had been arguing over an iPhone.
According to the county prosecutor, security cameras captured the murder on July 15 inside the bedroom where the couple lived together in Humboldt, Tennessee.
The victim’s mother, Rayana Smith, identified the 8-year-old girl as Demelia Hollingsworth. According to WREG.
According to a statement from Gibson District Attorney Frederick Agee, the recording shows the older child attempting to suffocate the younger cousin with bedding, who was sleeping in the upper bed. “After the girl was deceased, the boy cleaned the victim’s body and repositioned her body,” Agee said.
Relatives told WREG-TV in Memphis that the girls were from out of town staying at their grandmother’s house and were arguing over an iPhone.
After authorities obtained the video on Wednesday, the girl was charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
“I believe this is one of the most disturbing acts of violence my office has ever prosecuted, either against an adult or a juvenile,” Agee said in a statement.
He said he would petition the judge to charge the girl, who turns 13 later this month, in adult court, which would carry “longer penalties, whether that be prison or court-ordered conditional supervision.”
