Post date: May 12, 2013 1:58:39 PM
Sheriff's deputies arrest a 12-year-old boy in the stabbing death of his 8-year-old sister.
VALLEY SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MAY 12, 2013) (NBC) - Sheriff's deputies arrested a 12-year-old boy on Saturday in the stabbing death of his 8-year-old sister, a killing that triggered a huge manhunt last month for an intruder the boy said had broken into their Northern California home.
Calaveras County Sheriff Gary Kuntz told reporters the boy was taken into custody on a charge of homicide."At 5:10 pm detectives arrested Leila's 12-year old brother at the Valley Spring's substation on charges of homicide," Kuntz said.
The boy, whose name was not released, was arrested in Valley Springs, the community where Leila Fowler was slain on April 27 while the two siblings were home alone, Kuntz said.
The sheriff declined to say what led detectives to arrest the boy. Authorities previously said fingerprints and DNA evidence were collected from the home where Fowler was stabbed to death.
Authorities have said Leila's brother initially told investigators the two siblings were in their family home in the Sierra foothills, about 60 miles southeast of Sacramento, when he heard an intruder, saw a man in the living room who fled on foot, went to check on his sister and found her wounded.
The boy called 911 and his parents, who authorities said were at a Little Leaguebaseball game.
His sister was rushed to a hospital where she was pronounced dead six minutes later.
A neighbor initially told investigators she saw a man running away from the Fowler home shortly after the death.
But on May 3, Calaveras County sheriff's spokesman Chris Hewitt said the neighbor recanted her story and refused to describe the possible suspect to a composite-sketch artist.