ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - A 13-year-old Florida boy has been charged as an adult in the fatal stabbing of his grandmother.
A Pinellas County grand jury indicted the teen Friday on a first-degree murder charge, the Tampa Bay Times reported. He will be moved from a juvenile detention facility to the county jail.
Gloria Davis, 56, was fatally stabbed in her St. Petersburg home last month, an arrest report said. Investigators identified the teen as a suspect based on crime scene evidence and an interview with his 12-year-old half-brother, the only other person home at the time.
The boy’s motive remains a mystery, said Bruce Bartlett, chief assistant state attorney for Pinellas and Pasco counties.
“It’s one of the most gruesome crime scenes that I’ve experienced in a long time,” Bartlett said. “A tremendous amount of violence was involved in her death.”
Bartlett says that even though the boy has been charged as an adult, he could still be sentenced as a child depending on what evidence and testimony comes out in the case.
Online jail and court records didn’t list an attorney for the teen. He was being held without bail.
The Associated Press is not naming the teen because he is a minor.
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