DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS, Fla. — A second 16-year-old who is charged in connection to the murder of Kayla Rincon-Miller, 15, of Cape Coral, was arraigned at the Lee County Courthouse on Monday, May 6.
Fox 4’s Austin Schargorodski was in the courtroom when the judge said Christopher Horne will be tried as an adult.
Judge Andrew P. Marcus said there was no need for Horne to be in court on Monday, because the decision had already been made.
“Horne is going to be charged as an adult, so he’s going to be served with a capius upstairs,” said Judge Marcus.
That means the 16-year-old will go to the adult jail, and will be charged with principal to a homicide, in adult court. It’s the same charge 16-year-old Thomas Stein faces.
Cape Coral Police say Stein and Horne were both in a car, that stopped a group of teen girls back on the night of St Patrick's Day. The girls were walking to get something to eat after seeing a movie.
Police say the boys and possibly others in the car tried to rob the girls, but in the process, someone shot and killed Rincon-Miller.
In the days after the murder, Miller’s mother told FOX 4 she was devastated, saying, “I think the first few days I couldn’t sleep. The damage is done - we just want justice for her now.”
Two days after the murder, Cape Coral Police say they linked the SUV used in the crime to Stein. They say Stein’s mother rented it, but he had been using it the night of the crime.
From the beginning of the investigation, Police have said little about whether the teens in the SUV knew the girls they stopped.
“We believe this was not a random act of violence,” said Lisa Greenberg, CCPD Public Communications Specialist at the time the news of the crime broke back in March.
Police say they’re still looking for other suspects in the case. Horne will make his first appearance in adult court on Tuesday.
