Why did the 12-year-old girl in Oklahoma stab her younger brother to death?

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On January 5, authorities arrested a 12-year-old girl in Oklahoma after stabbing her younger brother to death. She pleads for leniency, saying, “I am a good girl,” in the viral video footage shared by The Law and Crime Network. She also admits to committing the crime and provides cooperation in the investigation.

Officers share that the 12-year-old killed her 9-year-old brother just before midnight while their mother was in the upstairs bedroom, and she frightfully threw the weapon outside the window. Police haven’t disclosed the motive behind the crime.

Trigger warning: The article contains information on a homicide investigation. Reader discretion is advised.

Why did the 12-year-old resident of Oklahoma stab her younger brother?

On January 5, Tulsa Police Riverside Division in Oklahoma attended an emergency call at 11:43 P.M. regarding a stabbing incident in the 1000 block of 64th Place South in the Southern area of Oklahoma, as per the statement released by the authorities.

  • When the officials arrived on the scene, paramedics and Tulsa emergency responders were already taking life-saving measures and performing CPR on the 9-year-old stabbing victim. The initial investigation and statements of the family describe the happenings of the time.
  • The 12-year-old girl approached her parents, who were asleep in the first-floor bedroom telling them she had stabbed her younger brother. Following this, officials were called, and the 9-year-old victim was admitted to a nearby hospital for surgery. Unfortunately, the younger kid died shortly after 2:30 A.M. due to fatal injuries.

Police took the 12-year-old suspect of the incident into custody at the Family Center for Juvenile Justice. However, the motive behind the attack remains unclear. The unnamed suspect admits initiating the stabbing but states that she doesn’t know why she did it and that she’s sorry.

The footage The Law and Crime Network shares also shows the 12-year-old suspect descending from the upstairs bedroom repeatedly shouting “I am so sorry” through tears. Seconds later, mother April Lyda screams about what a child did to another and states, “There are stab wounds on the chest, you better pray he survives.”

The mother and a close friend of the family testify about the children

The Law and Crime Network’s footage shows snippets of the conversation between the 12-year-old suspect with police officials in the patrol car. She repeatedly expresses her fear of going to jail for the rest of her life, stating that she doesn’t know how it happened and admitting that she has committed a ‘super illegal’ crime.

  • In the same footage, her mother, April Lyda, shares that she doesn’t know why the 12-year-old committed the crime. She shares that her daughter has never shown any aggressive tendencies or violence towards anybody.

One of the family’s close friends, who considers herself a sister of April Lyda, started a GoFundMe for the horror-stricken family. In her testimony on the fundraiser, Jennifer Anthamatten shares that the 12-year-old is a well-behaved child with no history of behavioral problems.

  • Anthamatten further shares the likes of the victim and shares that he was the ‘sweetest child with the biggest smile.’ He was a kind and obedient son who wanted to make his mother proud and loved his sister and brother very much.

In their official statement, Oklahoma authorities note that this was the second killing in Tulsa this year. The New York Post further reported that the 9-year-old’s murder was also the second sibling homicide case of the year.

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