Nov 14, 2008 8:14 pm US/Eastern
Broward Breaks Record For Child-on-Child Murders
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
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Teah Wimberly appears in court just one day after police say she murdered her classmate, Amanda Collette.
CBS
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Jason Hartley appears Friday in Judge Michael Orlando's court. He is accused of killing 14-year-old Neica Gibbs.
Miami Herald
2008 may go down as a record year for child-on-child homicides in Broward County. Teah Wimberly isn't the only young teenager being charged with murder in South Florida, and the disturbing trend is rising.
When Wimberly took that familiar walk through the sally port of the Broward county Jail, she joined a long list of Broward adolescents arrested for murder this year.
It started in January, when 12-year-old Harveltz Beaubon was charged with beating his 17-month-old cousin to death with a baseball bat. Harveltz told police she was preventing him from watching television.
In the summer, 15-year-old Jason Hartley was arrested for killing Neica Gibbs, a girl he had a crush on. Police say he wanted to pay her for sex. September saw the booking of Daniel Kuljis, who is accused of stabbing a 16-year-old after a confrontation in Pembroke Pines.
"Every person has a right to their day in court," Psychologist Dr. Ross Seligson told CBS4 Reporter Joan Murray, "and we need to figure out what's pushing them over the edge."
Dr. Seligson specializes in evaluating accused criminals. He says abandonment, isolation and depression often cause children to snap. Dramatic changes in appearance and behavior can be large warning signs. Those signs should lead to follow-up questions. "You want to know if they have access to weapons and in that case, you have to ask where are the parents to allow them access to guns."
They may be little more than children, but in the eyes of the law, all of the defendants are accused of committing very adult crimes and could face adult consequences.
"While it seems like the odds are stacked against them, every defendant has a case and every case is defensible," says Defense Attorney Eric Schwartzreich. He says in the case of Wimberly, who was dealing with abandonment issues, her best shot is to keep her in the juvenile system. "This is a young girl with a serious psychological problem."
Whether she ends up treated as a child or an adult, only one thing is certain for Teah Wimberly: the life she knew, a life full of promise, is gone forever.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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