The Springfield area has seen its share of teens accused of murder over the last few years. Here are three times teens have been accused of killing a family member.
1) Nicholas Starling
A Springfield 16-year stabbed and beat his 14-year-old brother with a baseball bat to death in 2016.
The violent slaying of Harley Starling resembled something out of a horror movie and is the worst child-on-child crime then Clark County Prosecutor Andy Wilson has ever prosecuted, he said.
Starling was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the murder.
2) Donovan Nicholas
The Champaign County teen was 14 years old when he made national headlines after stabbing and shooting his surrogate mother and telling a dispatcher that an alternative personality was responsible.
Nicholas stabbed 40-year-old Heidi Fay Taylor in April 2017. He was convicted and sentenced to serve 23 and a half years in prison.
His sentence is being appealed.
3) 13-year-old New Carlisle teen
A 13-year-old New Carlisle teen is accused of working with a 15-year-old to kill her mother and the rest of her family.
The teen will not face adult court because she is statutorily too young, Clark County prosecutors have said, but she is facing a murder charge in Clark County Juvenile Court.
Authorities say the teen snuck Natasha Ellis into her home and Ellis stabbed the 13-year-old’s mother, Lee Moore, to death.
Ellis is also accused of attacking the teen’s father and brother.
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