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CNN Live Today

Two Children in Custody for Killing Younger Brother

Aired April 16, 2002 - 14:27   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In Lewisville, Texas today, a 15- year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy are in custody, accused of killing their 6-year-old brother. Jackson Carr's body was found in the woods behind the family's home with a puncture wound in his neck. Police and neighbors searched for the body during the night, believing he was lost. But early this morning, police say the girl and her brother confessed to killing the child. The news shocked one neighbor, who says he spoke with the sister last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HOUSER, NEIGHBOR: Like she had no earthly idea what had happened to him, when in all reality, she knew exactly where he was and exactly what happened to him. The whole thing, talking to sister, walking by here and not even knowing that the body was here, and this happening in the neighborhood, it's just devastating. I can't believe it. It just blows me away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Both the sister and the 10-year-old brother are being held in the juvenile detention facility. As of now they have not entered pleas. Police are trying to find a motive for the killing. Joining us now by phone, Officer Richard Douglass of the Lewisville police department. Hello to you, sir.

RICHARD DOUGLASS, LEWISVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Hi, how are you doing?

PHILLIPS: Well, let's start with some background here on what happened last night. It started with a game of hide-and-seek, I understand?

DOUGLASS: Yes. The Lewisville police received a call from the parents about 6:45 p.m. last night, that the child was missing after a hide-and-seek adventure with his older brother, the 10-year-old.

PHILLIPS: So you interviewed the 10-year-old brother and the 15- year-old sister. And did they come right out and confess to this? How did the interview process go?

DOUGLASS: Well, I'm the public information officer and I know that our officers, the investigators, the team of police officers that were in the house, they had been in the house since around 6:45 p.m. last night. And during the investigation and interviews processed at that time, it led them to discover the boy's body when the 15-year- old, the sister, admitted to the investigators she had killed her brother and led them out about 100 yards southeast of their house, where the body was in a shallow grave of mud, water and debris.

PHILLIPS: Did she say why?

DOUGLASS: The motive is still under investigation. That's not being released yet, whether she told investigators that at this time or not. The 10-year-old did have a conversation with our investigators and said that when he was detained, that he admitted to helping his sister hold the brother down until he was dead.

PHILLIPS: That's chilling. Have they been charged in this murder?

DOUGLASS: Last night they were in front of a magistrate at the location, and Lewisville police shortly after that took them into custody, and did transport them to the county juvenile detention center under the charge of murder.

PHILLIPS: What can you tell us about this 15-year-old, her emotional state right now?

DOUGLASS: Well, again, once they were transported during the interview, the investigators had interviewed for six or seven hours while the search was going on with a multitude of people out in the field, out in this rural area, looking for this young boy, not knowing he was dead at that time, but in fact thinking he was hiding or lost.

And during that time, both children, or both the sister and the brother, didn't say much to the police until late in the evening, almost 12:00 or 12:30, when the signal come up that there might be a way that the 15-year-old could point out to the investigators where her brother was. And that's when she told the investigators that she had killed him and led us out to the grave site.

PHILLIPS: Where were the parents at the time?

DOUGLASS: The parents were there at the house the whole time during the search last night. They were concerned about, you know, where the little boy might be, as everybody was.

PHILLIPS: Have the parents been interviewed? Has there been a discussion with the parents, and maybe the relationship among these three kids?

DOUGLASS: Oh, yes. The interview and the investigation is ongoing as we are speaking now. The family has been traumatized quite a bit, as you can imagine. They have three children. One is deceased and two are in the detention center. So we have interviewed them last night. The investigation, as I mentioned, is ongoing. And they will be interviewed and talked to again later on either today or tomorrow.

PHILLIPS: Officer Douglass, tell us about Lewisville. What type of area is this, and is this the first type of situation, or tragic situation like this, to happen in this area?

DOUGLASS: Well, this question has been asked all day by the media. And I think that as police, reporters, as just the public in general, that when you have a child that's missing, it brings everybody to want to try to find that child. Then when you find out, in this case, murdered, and it's by another child, it's real hard for the community. IT's real hard for everybody to take this in and do something with is, because it's children on children hurting each other.

We're a community of about 81,000 people. And our location, we're just north of Dallas-Fort Worth area. And it's just a real quiet community. I've been here 20-something years and it's something I haven't seen in a long time in law enforcement, where you have children hurting other children, to the effect of having a death.

PHILLIPS: It's hard for all of us to understand. Officer Richard Douglass of the Lewisville police department, thank you, sir.

DOUGLASS: Thank you.

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