Teen suspect's alleged motive detailed in slaying of girl found in landfill
BEDFORD, Texas -- A 16-year-old boy has been detained as a suspect in the death of a 14-year-old girl whose body was found in a North Texas landfill.
In a statement issued Friday, the Bedford Police Department said the youth detained in the death of Kaytlynn Cargill had been an acquaintance of the girl. An arrest warrant said text messages showed that she had gone to meet the boy to buy marijuana on June 19, the day she disappeared.
The girl was last seen that day walking her dog inside the Bedford apartment complex where she lived. The dog was found tied to a fence, launching a search for the girl.
The girl's body was found three days later in a landfill, about 15 minutes away from where she vanished. She had been bludgeoned with a hammer. Police say they found in the boy's possession a hammer with Cargill's blood on it.
His name was being withheld because he is a juvenile.
The warrant, obtained by CBS DFW, says the teen suspect deleted texts and phone calls in an attempt to cover up the crime and establish an alibi with his then-girlfriend. A witness told police Cargill was seen running away from the suspect.
"It's heartbreaking….I don't know why somebody would do that to such a young girl," Keianna Duff, who was friends with Cargill, told the station.
The warrant also details an apparent crime scene uncovered June 25 in the apartment where the teen had been staying, located in the same apartment complex where Cargill lived. It says crime scene technicians found small areas of blood spatter along hallway walls, on a hallway closet door, on kitchen blinds, in a bathtub and on a back patio railing. Tests reportedly confirmed the blood was Cargill's.
The next day, investigators reportedly obtained a brown leather duffel bag belonging to the teen they believed contained evidence.
The suspect was arrested at a Fort Worth high school Friday morning. The youth is detained with bond set at $250,000.
