TN - 12 yr old Smothers her 8 yr old Cousin, Demeria, to Death in Humbolt July 2024

[Knox]

Thank goodness there is video.
I still find it unusual when it is inside a home.

I just read about this case and was about to ask the same question? Why was there a security camera in a bedroom? The bunkbed was in a bedroom right?

 

[Knox]

Maybe left over from when the kids were babies? Baby monitor? Hopefully it's something as simple as that!

This 12 year old girl obviously had anger and impulse issues she could not control. I don't think she should be tried as an adult, but that's just my opinion!

IMO MOO

I agree with you, not discounting the horrific nature of the crime, but that’s a big leap the DA is making. The now 13 year old is a child herself.

 

[TTF14]

I agree with you, not discounting the horrific nature of the crime, but that’s a big leap the DA is making. The now 13 year old is a child herself.

Yes. It's a horrific crime and there should obviously be consequences. But, this child needs to be in a facility to get actual, meaningful help to see if there's a chance they can be rehabilitated to live a productive life. And I hope that would include an investigation into what led to such extreme behavior .

Consequences. But also compassion.

 

[borndem]

Yes, there’s a strong case in general for minors being tried as minors, but is too thorny to discuss here.

I’m wondering if she was on any medications, or if she has any prior history of acting out in dangerous ways. Truly a horrible situation and an absolutely horrendous outcome.

bbm Same here -- maybe one of the girls had breathing trouble when sleeping, so they had a monitor? Maybe the monitor was installed before the current family moved into the house...
Wondering if either or both of the girls knew the monitor was there?
This is just awful.

 

[tlcya]

bbm Same here -- maybe one of the girls had breathing trouble when sleeping, so they had a monitor? Maybe the monitor was installed before the current family moved into the house...
Wondering if either or both of the girls knew the monitor was there?
This is just awful.

monitor could have been to watch an elderly family member, or that person's caregivers, just about any reason.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

The victim’s mother, Rayana Smith, identified her as Demeria Hollingsworth. She remembered Demeria was always smiling, doing well in school, and hugging her little sister.

“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. My baby was sweet,” Smith said.


Smith said the girls were staying with their grandmother in Humboldt for the summer. She says the issue stemmed over an argument over an iPhone.

https://wreg.com/news/mid-south/12-year-old-girl-charged-with-killing-8-year-old-by-suffocation/

She looks so tiny. Poor baby was sound asleep and probably never stood a chance. Murder over a cell phone? SMH So terribly sad.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Maybe left over from when the kids were babies? Baby monitor? Hopefully it's something as simple as that!

This 12 year old girl obviously had anger and impulse issues she could not control. I don't think she should be tried as an adult, but that's just my opinion!

IMO MOO

At what point do those anger and impulse issues become something a child chooses not to control? Just a question running through my mind.

 

[Pseudonymph]

This is disturbing as can be but I find it outrageous to consider trying a 12-year-old as an adult.

 

[SMK777]

This is disturbing as can be but I find it outrageous to consider trying a 12-year-old as an adult.

Right, although the crime is horrendous, no 12 year old child would be viewed as an adult if an older person involved them sexually. How do they suddenly become adults during the commission of a crime? MOO

There had to be some serious issue (psychological, or medications, or some kind of abuse, or a combination of these) to reach the point where she murdered her cousin over an iPhone. At least this is how it seems to me.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

14 and 15--year-old school shooters have been tried as adults.

I am conflicted where and when to draw that line, but I agree 12 is too young.

Yet I fear for the future safety of those around kids like her, and it's not just a small fear. JMO.

 

[SMK777]

Yet I fear for the future safety of those around kids like her, and it's not just a small fear. JMO.

Yes, her dead cousin is evidence that she was in fact an extreme danger to others. I just don’t know what the answer is….

 

[GoBuckeyes]

This is disturbing as can be but I find it outrageous to consider trying a 12-year-old as an adult.

How old were the two thin man (I don't think I have that quite right, but something similar) would-be killers? Weren't they 12? They had a sleepover with their victim, and the next day lured her into the woods and stabbed her repeatedly. It was a miracle that she survived.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Yes, her dead cousin is evidence that she was in fact an extreme danger to others. I just don’t know what the answer is….

I do think the DA is on the right track trying to find a way to extend her supervision/controls/incarceration past age 18; hence the need for adult court.

 

[Pseudonymph]

How old were the two thin man (I don't think I have that quite right, but something similar) would-be killers? Weren't they 12? They had a sleepover with their victim, and the next day lured her into the woods and stabbed her repeatedly. It was a miracle that she survived.

Maybe 13 but I was also angry they were tried as adults. One of them has been found to have very serious psychiatric issues and the other one seems to have gone along with it. A classic folie a deux.

 

[Pseudonymph]

I do think the DA is on the right track trying to find a way to extend her supervision/controls/incarceration past age 18; hence the need for adult court.

I agree. The system isn’t set up to handle this.

 

[tlcya]

How old were the two thin man (I don't think I have that quite right, but something similar) would-be killers? Weren't they 12? They had a sleepover with their victim, and the next day lured her into the woods and stabbed her repeatedly. It was a miracle that she survived.

good point, and if I remember rightly I fully supported them being tried as adults, although it's been a decade and I would have to go look at my posts from back then. I don't know why this case gives me such pause. Bottom line at 12 you should be old enough to know the following: death is permanent, murder is wrong.

But I do feel a certain kind of way about this girl being charged as an adult and cannot pinpoint the why of it.

Since I cannot pinpoint where my discomfort is coming from I will sit back and wait to see what happens. I can say the last thing I would want is for this girl to be released at adulthood and kill again.

 

[Mauig’ma]

The Alexa we have has a camera on it which I didn’t know until my daughter caught me red handed giving her boys candy while they were 200 miles away. Idk maybe it’s something like this. Moo