Affidavit: Teen says he molested and killed boy
A 14-year-old with a baby face told investigators he drowned his 4-year-old neighbor in a bathtub, then hid the body in a dryer because the child was going to reveal the teen molested him, according to an affidavit released when he appeared in court Wednesday.
Further into the article we learn:
The affidavit said Castro, a student at Mendota Junior High School, initially told police he knew nothing of the boy's disappearance. When investigators said the boy had been found in the dryer, the teen suggested someone had broken into the house and put him there.
Castro eventually told police he had enticed the dimpled, brown-eyed boy into his house across the street and sodomized him, the affidavit states. He said he killed Mercado after the child fell and hit his head, started crying, then threatened to tell his mother, the document states.
"Castro said he panicked and decided to kill the victim by drowning him in the bathtub," the affidavit says.
The teen, who is 5 feet tall and weighs 170 pounds, put Mercado's body over his shoulder and carried him to the dryer, hoping everything "would go away," the affidavit states.
Castro had been scheduled for arraignment as an adult on charges of first-degree murder, sodomy, child molestation, kidnapping and murder to silence a witness.
Marousek said after the hearing that she doubted the teenager understood the Miranda rights read to him by investigators, which could put his confession in doubt.
Earlier the teen had nodded without expression when Judge Jon Kapetan asked him if he understood the proceedings. Bail was set at $2.1 million.
California law says suspects 14 and older can be charged and tried as adults. About 20 percent of murders in the state are committed by people between the ages of 11 and 17.
Although this is a very disturbing story, I found the statistic that "about 20 percent of murders in the state are committed by people between the ages of 11 and 17" to be the most disturbing. I feel very confused. I would like to see the age of adulthood reduced to reflect the reality of out society. But if this is done for the criminal element, it could also be done for age of consent laws.
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1 comment:
Perpetua, this story is so tragic on so many levels!
Its a sad thing to see a child of the tender age of four be violated, and have his life taken with such callous violence. He is an icon for the legions of faceless children who suffer the same violence throughout the world on a daily basis.
It's a tragedy that another family's life has been torn to shreds in a matter of moments. I've never been one to embrace the sentimental "no bad kids" myth; all are born depraved and bent towards wickedness. Yet still its shocking to see such depravity manifested in one barely into their teens. His life, the life of his family and his victim's family will bear the scars for a lifetime.
There has to be a reckoning for a crime of this magnitude. Though I fully support capital punishment for for willful, premeditated murder, I stridently oppose both the execution of minors, or those who comitted heinous crimes as minors. Yet a crime of this depth has to be punished with the severest means available.
Then, there's the tragedy that few have the brass assets to discuss, and that is the stolen innocence of the accused. In our Kinseyian dystopia, we sexualize kindergarteners in the name of "education", legitimize any and all sexual behaovors in the name of tolerance, then after providing these children with a comprehensive education in contrabiblical sexual practices, expect the young cherubs to remain chaste.
When the sexual revolution turns its eyes on elementary schools, it becomes sexual terrorism. In that economy, the prey almost always become predator.
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