# 15 yr. old Florida girl kills 16 yr. old brother **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 8, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340 "2015-01-08T19:53:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/21 "2015-01-09T00:21:16Z")
Ba dum - The Aristocrats! \* Wah wah wah wahhhhh ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/22 "2015-01-09T04:48:07Z")
This is Florida - and the extreme northern part at that. Pure redneck territory. FL and TX have a competition for “most fucked-up legal system”. I’m guessing trial as adult for the 15 yr old on first degree murder. It’s a toss-up on the 11 year old. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/23 "2015-01-09T09:08:16Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > All this story is missing is cannibalism. Jesus. The Aristocrats! Too soon? I’m going to hell, aren’t I? ☹ Whoops, more like too late, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/24 "2015-01-09T14:34:47Z")
Wow. Poor kids. Every time I think my life sucked/sucks, I should just remember these kids. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/25 "2015-01-09T14:50:13Z")
One report quotes the parents as saying that they locked her in her room for up to 20 consecutive days. What a fucked up family. I grew up in a home with severe abuse. Both of my parents came from really screwed up families, and their parents did as well. The poor girl should be pretty much anywhere but a jail right now. What a sad story. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/26 "2015-01-09T14:54:48Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Some nutjob threw his 5 year old girl off a Tampa bridge today too. Right in front of a cop. How awful to see. I don’t know how I would handle seeing that. > > I just moved to FL in 2012 for work. > > Crazy depraved shit seems to happen here more than any other state. I’ve learned that any crazy story on the news has a 75% chance of starting with “In XX FL today” or “A Florida Man did XXX” To be fair, part of that is the sunshine laws in Florida that make it a lot easier to find and publish “weird crimes”. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/27 "2015-01-09T15:25:45Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I have to wonder whether the 16-year-old boy may have been a victim of severe abuse as well. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > We all think so too. > > ☹ Well, but hey, apparently he _had_ to be shot dead in order for his sister to have a chance to not be returned home, and now he’s dead we may as well assume he deserved it and concentrate on the live girl who is still in a position to suffer. Or else I’m not understanding things. It certainly looks from context as though he thought that beating your sister and imprisoning her when she’s “bad” is the way the world works. The wrong parties have ended up dead here, I’m thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/28 "2015-01-09T16:17:37Z")
Kinda surprised she didn’t shoot the parents. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/29 "2015-01-09T16:36:29Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Wow. Don’t know what I’d do with this situation. The whole thing is sad and I can’t imagine the girls with be charged, or at least they won’t be sent to prison. More likely an institution where they can get mental help. If someone like [Francince Hughes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francine_Hughes) of the “Burning Bed” case can be found “not guilty,” surely this girl could too? > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > The Aristocrats! > > Too soon? > I’m going to hell, aren’t I? ☹ If so, I’m going with you: I laughed. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/30 "2015-01-09T17:03:15Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > A double wide bedroom does not seem like a reasonable method to confine a 15 yr old, even a double wide closet (with no windows). She was certainly able to break into her parents locked bedroom, so could easily escape unless chained or the room was substantially reinforced to hold her. Perhaps breaking out would have resulted in worse punishment and fear of that kept her from breaking out, however the encouragement of her sister to let her out would indicate otherwise. > > So something is missing here. Once her little sister let her out of her room, she got a knife, went outside, and used the knife to pry a window A/C unit out of the window to the parents’ bedroom, according to the news story I read. And having done that, she got in through the window. Since all she had in her room was a blanket and a bucket, it’s not like she could have broken out of her own room the same way she broke into her parents’ room, if that’s what you’re asking. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/31 "2015-01-09T17:06:18Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I have to wonder whether the 16-year-old boy may have been a victim of severe abuse as well. Quite possibly both a victim of abuse, and an abuser of his younger siblings. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/32 "2015-01-09T17:38:23Z")
Does anyone know if these girls went to school, or if the family had any contact with other people? I did see on another website that the 16-year-old had been expelled from school for ongoing behavior problems. I didn’t think you could do that any more, but maybe he was old enough that he didn’t HAVE to be in school. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/33 "2015-01-09T17:50:20Z")
I have to wonder if law enforcement, by releasing the details, are setting the girls up for a sympathetic jury. It would be difficult to find someone in the pool who hadn’t heard of the case, and if they’ve already read about the abuse, would tend to see this more as self defense. It seems that the adults in all of the children’s lives have failed them. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/34 "2015-01-09T18:01:42Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > Kinda surprised she didn’t shoot the parents. Lack of opportunity, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/35 "2015-01-09T18:34:44Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Does anyone know if these girls went to school, or if the family had any contact with other people? > > I did see on another website that the 16-year-old had been expelled from school for ongoing behavior problems. I didn’t think you could do that any more, but maybe he was old enough that he didn’t HAVE to be in school. The 16 year old boy was still in school. The shooter, Ariel, was “withdrawn from school as of January 1st” according to this article. [http://www.gainesville.com/article/20150107/articles/150109742?p=2&tc=pg](http://www.gainesville.com/article/20150107/articles/150109742?p=2&tc=pg) ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/36 "2015-01-09T18:43:12Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Quite possibly both a victim of abuse, and an abuser of his younger siblings. Unless he was “the favored one”, which could be regarded as a different kind of abuse. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/37 "2015-01-09T20:13:14Z")
I’m glad this is someone else’s decision, not mine. Those kids’ lives are so fucked up, I think the only thing to do is get them into a safe place, and provide lots of therapy, and hope it helps. This isn’t a legal problem, but an ethical one. And a tough one at that. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/38 "2015-01-10T04:16:18Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Quite possibly both a victim of abuse, and an abuser of his younger siblings. That’s what happened in our family. My older brother was also a victim of abuse and in turn abused us. I could see how it could happen. This really is a sad story. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/39 "2015-01-10T04:28:55Z")
Is there any precedent for charging an 11-year-old an adult? Besides, what was her part in the crime other than letting her sister out of a locked room? ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340/40 "2015-01-10T05:01:40Z")
> [@missred](#): > > . > > It seems that the adults in all of the children’s lives have failed them. ☹ In my experience once you’re a older teen even if still under the custody of your parents police and other authorities treat the situation like they just want to get away from the messed up family, go away basically. A cop advised me to leave at age 16, when I pointed out my parents could call him and he would forcibly return me he laughed and said well yea. Touh shit kid yea thats life! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/15-yr-old-florida-girl-kills-16-yr-old-brother/709340.md?page=3)