Boy, 14, who ‘strangled girl, 6, to death claims he felt her soul leaving after shadowy man ordered him to kill her'
A 14-YEAR-OLD boy who allegedly molested and strangled a little girl to death told cops he "felt her soul leave her body" and said he was "being controlled by a shadowy man".
Grace Ross, 6, went missing at around 6:30pm on March 12 from a residential area in New Carlisle, Indiana, before her body was found just two hours later in a nearby woodland.
A woman later brought her son – who cannot be named for legal reasons – to the police – where he described the horrific details of the chilling child murder, revealed in a new investigative report by prosecutors.
The teen told investigators Grace had followed him into the wooded area as he wandered around, before he lost sight of her, according to local media.
He then claimed that a "shadowy man was controlling him" and forced him to strangle the child with his hands, WDNU reports.
The 14-year-old said he was aware Grace was dead when checking for her pulse and feeling her soul or spirit leave her body.
An autopsy found the six-year-old had died from asphyxiation.
He then allegedly ran from the woodland and returned to his family apartment with blood-stained hands.
According to the newspaper, he removed his dirty clothing and hid it behind a bathroom door, took a shower and put on clean clothes.
His legal team had attempted to seal public access to the harrowing details, but St. Joseph County Probate Court Magistrate Graham Polando ruled against this, seeing it released on Friday.
Under Indiana law, juvenile court proceedings can be made public if the crime would be charged as a murder of felony if the defendant was tried as an adult.
"We conclude that the public’s interest in information regarding the basis for this ongoing matter supports our release of this particular document in this case," a written statement from the office read, according to the South Bend Tribune.
The boy will be assessed by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals to evaluate his mental state.
A hearing to decide whether he should be tried in an adult court scheduled for May 13 has been delayed so both legal teams can assess the findings of the mental health evaluation, according to the report.
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