12-Year-Old Girl Charged With Murder Of 8-Year-Old Cousin

The two girls were reportedly arguing over an iPhone.

A 12-year-old girl has been charged with first-degree murder after being accused of suffocating her 8-year-old cousin to death, WREG in Memphis reports.

Prosecutors in Humboldt, Tennessee, applied the charges after video footage reportedly showed the 12-year-old using bedding to suffocate her younger cousin. The victim’s mother, Rayana Smith, identified her daughter as Demeria Hollingsworth. According to the mother, the girls were staying with their grandmother for the summer.

She said the two were arguing over an iPhone before the incident occurred. Investigators responsible for reviewing home security footage of the incident say that the older girl cleaned up the victim following the suffocation and then repositioned her body.

Since she is set to turn 13 next week, District Attorney General for the 28th District in West Tennessee, Frederick Agee, said his office is petitioning for Juvenile Judge Mark Johnson to transfer the 12-year-old girl to Circuit Court to have her tried as an adult. At this time she has been charged with first-degree murder as well as tampering with evidence.

“I consider this to be one of the most disturbing violent acts committed by either an adult or juvenile that my office has prosecuted,” Agee wrote in a statement shared on the office’s social media page.

According to Smith, her daughter was always cheerful.

“She liked to read books, go swimming, play outside, ride her bike every day, play with the kids in the neighborhood, play with my friends’ kids,” said Smith. “My baby was sweet.”

Smith also admitted to having a hard time grasping what really happened to her daughter. She said she should have picked up her child after being told that the two girls were arguing over an iPhone, “but they were having fun for the summer and I didn’t think she would kill my baby.”

“She did nothing to deserve her life to be taken,” Smith added. “Last time I seen my baby, she was smiling, giving me kisses, telling me she will see me when it’s time for her to come back home. She never coming back home. She never coming back home.”

Smith said she hopes the 12-year-old girl receives the highest sentence possible.