District Attorney General Frederick H. Agee, of the 28th Judicial District, has issued a statement after an 8-year-old was murdered Monday, July 15, 2024 in Humbolt, Tennessee. Agee says a home security video showed the suspect, a 12-year-old female juvenile who will turn 13 next week, used bedding to suffocate her 8-year-old cousin, while the victim was sleeping in the top bunk of bunk beds they shared. After the suffocation, the juvenile cleaned up the victim and repositioned her body.
The Humboldt Police Department filed a Petition of Delinquency charging the juvenile with First Degree Murder. Also added will be a charge of Tampering with Evidence.
District Attorney General Agee says that due to the horrendous nature of this crime and under Tennessee Law the Juvenile Court loses jurisdiction after a juvenile turns 19, and therefore, the juvenile would be free from any further detention, supervision, or court-ordered mental health treatment, his Office is petitioning Juvenile Judge Mark Johnson to transfer the delinquent child to Circuit Court to be tried as an adult, which allows for a lengthier sentence, whether that will be through incarceration or supervision with court-ordered conditions.
Neither the victim nor the charged juvenile were residents of Humboldt; they both were visiting family.
Agee asks everyone to keep the victim’s Family and the Humboldt Police Department in your thoughts and prayers.
A detention hearing was scheduled for Friday (7/19/24) in Gibson County Juvenile Court.