Grand jury indicts Rockledge teen in slaying of grandmother; he's to be tried as adult
A 16-year-old Rockledge boy was indicted Tuesday by a grand jury on one count of first-degree murder following the death of his grandmother, according to the state attorney's office.
First-degree indicates a planned, intentional killing.
Jaylin Christian, who will be prosecuted as an adult, was arrested Sept. 7 after Brevard County Sheriff's Office deputies and Rockledge police began investigating a text to 911 that said he had killed his grandmother, Muriel Emerson, according to an arrest affidavit.
Deputies spoke with the teen at a Chevron gas station on Clearlake Road near Cocoa, where he told them he stabbed his grandmother "too many (times) to count," the affidavit said.
He told law enforcement officers he had run away previously that day, but after his grandmother brought him home, he began to have homicidal thoughts and eventually stabbed her multiple times that night. He covered her body with a blanket before leaving the house.
Rockledge police and sheriff's deputies found Emerson dead in her home, which she shared with Christian, on Carolina Avenue in Rockledge, the affidavit said. She was covered in a blanket and it was "readily apparent that (she) was deceased," the affidavit said.
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The Brevard County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide, according to a statement by Todd Brown, a spokesperson for the state attorney's office.
The grand jury heard from the Brevard Medical Examiner, a sheriff's office crime scene investigator and a Rockledge police detective before indicting Christian, Brown said. An order was filed to transfer the case from juvenile court to the circuit court.
Prosecutors announced Tuesday they are not seeking the death penalty for Christian.
Christian is expected to be transferred to Brevard County Jail, where he will be held without bond, Brown said. A trial date has not been set.
Finch Walker is a Breaking News Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @_finchwalker
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Rockledge teen charged with murdering grandmother to be tried as adult
