Demeria Hollingsworth, 8 year old Tennessee girl choked to death by her 12 year old cousin following fight over iPhone as victim’s mother, Rayanna Smith speaks of unbearable grief.
A 12-year-old Tennessee girl allegedly choked her cousin to death after the pair got into a dispute over an iPhone while at their grandmother’s house on Monday.
The unidentified girl, who turns 13 next week, allegedly used bedding to suffocate Demeria Hollingsworth, eight, as she slept in a bunk bed, before cleaning up and repositioning her body according to captured home surveillance video.
The victim’ s mother, Rayana Smith remembered Demeria as 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,’ the mother told FOX59.
The parent said the cousins were staying with their grandmother in Humboldt for the summer.
The suffocation according to the parent stemmed over an argument over an iPhone.
‘When they told me about that, I should have just gone to get my kid,’ Smith said. ‘But they were having fun for the summer and I didn’t think she would kill my baby.’
Smith said it was difficult to wrap her head around what happened to her daughter.
‘She did nothing to deserve for her life to be taken,’ the victim’s mother said. ‘She was only 8 years old. She just turned 8 in April.’
Frederick Agee, District Attorney General for the 28th District in West Tennessee, said his office is petitioning Juvenile Judge Mark Johnson to transfer the child to Circuit Court to be tried as an adult according to WKRN.
Petition to have case tried in adult court
‘I consider this to be one of the most disturbing violent acts committed by either an adult or juvenile that my office has prosecuted,’ Agee said in a statement posted to the office’s social media page.
The 13-year-old is charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
Smith is hoping for the maximum sentence.
‘Last time I seen my baby, she was smiling, giving me kisses, telling me she will see me when it’s time for her to come back home. She never coming back home. She never coming back home,’ Smith said.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help with funeral costs.
Posted Smith, ‘The pain I’m feeling is unbearable. I have to now live life without her in this crazy world.’
