Indiana teen to face charges in pregnant classmate's death: prosecutor

By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters) - Indiana officials on Monday were due to file charges against a 16-year-old high school football player accused of killing a pregnant classmate, according to a county prosecutor's office and local media reports.

The suspect was arrested on Sunday afternoon, hours after the victim's body was located in a dumpster outside South Bend, Indiana, local media reported. He was due to be formally charged on Monday, Jessica McBrier, spokeswoman for the St. Joseph County prosecutor's office, said in a phone interview.

The victim, 17-year-old Breana Rouhselang, was reported missing by her family before dawn on Sunday, Lieutenant Alex Arendt of the St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit told reporters on Sunday.

Arendt did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident, which occurred in the city of Mishawaka.

The prosecutor's office identified the suspect as Aaron Trejo. If Trejo is charged with murder, he will be tried as an adult under a state law, prosecutors said.

Trejo's family members could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.

The victim and the suspect knew each other through the Mishawaka High School football team, the South Bend Tribune reported. The suspect played for the team. Rouhselang's stepmother told reporters that Breana was the team manager.

Neighbors told local media that they saw authorities recover Rouhselang's body from a dumpster near her home around 11 a.m. (1600 GMT) on Sunday.

"It was a location of opportunity to hide the victim," Arendt told local media on Sunday.

Mishawaka High School called Rouhselang's death "a terrible tragedy" in a statement on its website.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Bill Berkrot)