Crime Time

Six youths arrested after Florida teen lured to death by ex-girlfriend

Six teens and adults have been charged in the murder of a 15-year-old Florida boy who police said was lured to his death by an ex-girlfriend who promised to rekindle their romance.

The Associated Press reports that Seath Tyler Jackson received a text message Sunday afternoon from his 15-year-old ex telling him that they should meet at a central Florida house and when he did, police said that he was fatally beaten and shot several times.

Jackson's body was then stuffed in a sleeping bag and burned with the remains put in paint buckets and dumped at an isolated lime rock pit. The house was then doused with bleach to destroy blood evidence.

Investigators said in the arrest warrant affidavit that five of the six suspects told police they were involved in the murder plot. The suspects range in age from 15 to 37 years old.

According to several suspects, the plot was hatched by 20-year-old Michael Bargo, who was also the man behind the trigger in Jackson's shooting.

Witness accounts and police said that Bargo was dating Jackson's ex-girlfriend and had even got into a fight with him several weeks before his murder.

One of the six suspects arrested, a 16-year-old boy, told them that the five suspects were at the house Sunday when Bargo started to talk about how much he hated the victim and the conversation gradually turned into the plot to lure him to the house so that he could kill him.

According to police, the murder plot didn't go quite as planned. Jackson's ex-girlfriend and other teenage girl met with Jackson to try to get him to go to the house but there was a disagreement and he didn't return to the house with them.

One of the suspects told investigators that Bargo was angry and told the two to get Jackson to the house, causing the ex-girlfriend to send the text message that would ultimately convince Jackson to go the house that night.

Of the six people arrested, five have been charged with first-degree murder and are being held without bond.

The stepfather of one of the minors. 37-year-old James Young Havens III, was charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and is currently held on $10,000 bond.

-Chance Welch

Police: 20-25 teens storm Georgia train, attack and steal from riders

The Associated Press reports that a group of 20 to 25 teens got a Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority train headed for Atlanta's airport late Saturday night and attacked a couple of riders.

One of the teenagers allegedly hit a rider in the face with an aluminum can and pushed him, stealing his wallet while another passenger was punched in the face.

The riders reportedly worked for Delta Air Lines and had been staying at a hotel near the airport at the time.

A MARTA official said that no arrests have been made in the case.

-Chance Welch

Pepper-spray or negotiation? 8-year-old Co. boy threatens, tries to stab police

Police in Lakewood, Colorado had to deal with a stressful situation February 22. A person holding a sharp piece of wood tried to stab officers while making a threat that he wanted to kill them.

The only problem was that the person was an 8-year-old boy.

The Associated Press reports that police had to pepper-spray Aidan Elliott twice at Glennon Heights Elementary School after he refused to drop a piece of wooden wall trim that he tried to stab them with.

Police told reporters that pepper-spraying the boy was the safest option available.

The boy's mother said that she wants Lakewood police to receive special training in dealing with children. The boy was enrolled in a special program at the school for children with behavioral problems.

She said that her son has had outbursts in the past but has responded well to mediation.

The boy made the rounds of morning talk shows such as NBC's "Today" show and ABC's "Good Morning America" where he admitted that he wanted to "whack" them with the piece of wood.

When he was asked on "Good Morning America" whether he meant what he said when he told police he wanted to kill them, his reply was "A little."

There's no word on what kind of punishment the boy received. The article mentions that he has since transferred to another school.

Based on the information presented in the article, would you agree with the method Lakewood police used?

-Chance Welch

Abused girl, 14, gets probation for killing her father

A 14-year-old Pennsylvania girl will be on probation until she is 21 after admitting she killed her father with a blast from a 12-gauge shotgun.

The girl accepted an offer to be adjudicated delinquent, the juvenile court equivalent to guilty, according to reports.

She admitted killing her 34-year-old father rather than face more years of sexual and physical abuse. Authorities said the father and daughter lived in conditions that they described as incredible.

"The district attorney's office has been very progressive and enlightened regarding this issue. We're grateful to the DA's office for understanding that even though my client committed a very serious offense, she was also a victim and endured substantial and repeated trauma at the hands of her father," defense attorney Patrick Nightingale told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

To find out more about the case and the deplorable conditions in which the girl lived, you can read the Post-Gazette's article here.

-- Lance Murray

Gruesome tale from small Texas town

From the AP:

ALBA, Texas -- A mother and two children were killed during a predawn attack on their remote East Texas ranch where police said another man was critically injured by gunshot wounds and the family's house burned to the ground.

Four people, including three high school students and one juvenile, were arrested. Said a 67-year-old man who lives a mile away: "All you read about out here are ticky-tacky crimes in the local paper. I never lock my doors. This is a quiet place."

>> Read more

-- John Metz

Police: Boys 11, 14 aimed to sexually assault woman

Police in Austin have arrested two boys, ages 11 and 14, in what one officer has called the most unusual sexual assault investigation he's ever seen.

The boys are charged with breaking into the home of a 60-year-old woman with the intent of sexually assaulting her. One of the boys was attempting to do so, but stopped when she had a seizure, police said. The boys had a sophisticated "rape kit" with them that include restraint devices, police said.

The boys weren't alone, though. A 15-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy were outside as lookouts, police said.

Read the Austin American-Statesman account here.

-- Lance Murray

One fight too many lands teen in adult prison

Jacob Cobb, a teenager convicted of killing his grandmother and trying to make it look like a suicide, wasn’t exactly a model inmate when he went to juvenile prison last year. And it cost him. Big time.

In a hearing on Wednesday, a juvenile court judge ruled that Cobb, who apparently got in one fight too many, should be sent to the adult prison to finish his 40-year sentence.

If Cobb, who turns 19 in December, would have remained in the juvenile prison, he could have been paroled after serving three years.

Now, that he is going to big-boy prison, he must serve at least 20 years before he is eligible for parole.

-- Melody McDonald

Readers commenting on Handley Middle School incident

Readers are voicing their concerns about the recent report of a student threatening a classmate with a handgun at Handley Middle School. Read the report by Staff Writer Alex Branch and the attached comments from readers.

-- Bill Miller