Teen With Family ‘Hit List’ Kills Brother and Hides His Body: Sheriff
An Alabama teenager who mysteriously went missing Monday was shot dead by his younger brother and hidden in the woods behind the family’s home, authorities announced late Wednesday.
The tragic saga began Monday evening, when the boys’ father said he returned home around 7:30 p.m. and discovered that his 17-year-old son was nowhere to be found, the Pike County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release cited by local media. The next day, he said, he was called to pick his 14-year-old son up from school early because the boy was distraught over the “disappearance” of his older brother.
The two returned home and began searching for the 17-year-old, whose body was found by his father about 60 yards behind the family home, police said. Shortly after that grim discovery, investigators learned of alarming comments the 14-year-old allegedly made to a friend at school.
Police say he confided in his friend that he’d killed his “missing” brother.
“He then asked his friend to help him murder the rest of his family and help him bury their bodies. The friend also stated the 14-year-old had a hit list in his bookbag of family members he wanted to kill and made statements about wanting to shoot up the school,” the sheriff’s office said.
“This student was taking a test and he was so bothered by what this 14-year-old friend had told him that he reported it to the teacher,” Pike County Sheriff Russell Thomas told reporters at a news conference late Wednesday.
Investigators searched the teen’s bookbag and discovered the hit list, Russell said. The 14-year-old confessed that he had shot his brother, who then “staggered” out of the house and “fell at the bottom of the steps.” The 14-year-old then dragged the body into the woods behind the home.
It was not immediately clear what led up to the shooting, or what the possible motive could be. The Pike County Board of Education released a statement Wednesday confirming that a student had been “arrested in connection with the death of a family member.”
School officials asked for law enforcement to step up security in light of the 14-year-old’s alleged threats but stressed that they’d found no evidence of any threat to school campuses.
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