A pair of baby-faced Florida teenagers will be tried as adults after they allegedly killed a 14-year-old girl and set her body on fire.
Gabriel Williams, 16, and Kimahri Blevins, 14, of Pace, were indicted Friday on first-degree premeditated murder charges in the death of 14-year-old Danika Troy late last month, WEAR reports.
They now face spending the rest of their lives behind bars if they are convicted. Troy’s mother told The New York Post she prays they get the maximum penalty.
Ashley Troy had last seen her little girl on November 30, and reported her missing as a runaway the next morning.
‘Unbeknownst to the mother, Troy was murdered the previous night,’ Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson said at a news conference.
Her dead body was found – charred with gunshot wounds – in a remote wooded area on December 2 at around 11am.
Investigators found multiple rounds of live ammunition nearby and evidence of a fire.
Authorities said Williams stole his mother’s handgun to carry out the crime, but none of the parents have been charged with any wrongdoing.
According to police, the alleged killers were friends with Troy from school, but the three teens ended up on bad terms over Thanksgiving break.
Gabriel Williams, 16, and Kimahri Blevins, 14, of Pace, will be tried as adults for the murder of 14-year-old Danika Troy
Troy’s body was found charred and with riddled with bullet holes in the woods on December 2
The teen boys allegedly plotted to kill Troy because she blocked Blevins on social media and called Williams ‘worthless and a gang-banger,’ Law & Crime reported.
A witness allegedly told investigators that Williams and Blevins had planned out the murder, but had only anticipated shooting her once.
Williams was allegedly the one who escalated the heinous crime by setting Troy on fire.
On the night of the murder, Blevins’ mother caught him sneaking back into his house, according to Law & Crime.
He allegedly told his mother that he went out to have a cigarette, but she told police that she did not smell any smoke on him.
Both Blevins and Williams have since allegedly confirmed that there was a ‘falling out’ with Troy.
The young girl’s mother now claims Williams lured her into meeting them the night of the murder by pretending to have a crush on her.
The accused murderers have had ‘run-ins’ with the law in the past, but the sheriff did not say if they had ever been arrested.
Now, Ashley said, she needs more answers.
‘I’m just left asking why,’ she said. ‘She just wanted to be loved.’
She was found dead after an alleged ‘falling out’ with the two accused killers
Troy was last seen alive by her mother on November 30. She was reported missing the following morning
Despite the heinous murder, Ashley said she does not ‘blame those boys.’
‘I blame evil influence,’ she explained. ‘I don’t hate them, I hate what they did to my baby.’
Still, she said, she is struggling to accept what happened.
‘Every other day, every new wave of pain and denial of how this could be real – my baby, killed. It’s nothing I ever imagined, my worst nightmare,’ she told the Post, saying she and her other daughter have been left reeling as they prepare for Christmas.
‘There’s an emptiness where we were once three and are now just two.’
As Troy’s loved ones continue to grieve her untimely death, a GoFundMe has been created to help her family cover funeral expenses.
The fundraiser has garnered more than $30,000 in donations as of Sunday night.
‘This is a hard time for the family and anything will help. I’m not just asking for donations, but for prayer as well,’ the page organizer wrote.
Williams and Blevins are now being held at the Santa Rosa County Jail without bond. They are due back in court for an arraignment on January 8.
