12-year-old girl accused of choking 8-year-old cousin over iPhone

HUMBOLDT, Tennessee — A 12-year-old Tennessee girl has been charged with murder after she accused her 8-year-old cousin of suffocating her while the younger girl slept. A family member said they had gotten into an argument over an iPhone.

A security camera captured the killing in their shared bedroom on July 15 in Humboldt, Tennessee, the county prosecutor said.

The recording shows the older child using bedding to smother her cousin while the younger child slept in the top bunk, Gibson County District Attorney Frederick Agee said in his statement. After the child died, “the juvenile cleaned the victim and repositioned her body,” Agee said.

A relative told WREG-TV in Memphis that the girls had argued over an iPhone after coming from out of town to stay with their grandmother.

The girl was charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence after authorities obtained the video on Wednesday.

“I consider this to be one of the most disturbing acts of violence committed by an adult or juvenile that my office has prosecuted,” Agee wrote in the statement.

He said he would ask a judge to prosecute the girl, who turns 13 later this month, in adult court, which would allow for “a longer sentence, whether through incarceration or supervision with court-ordered conditions.”