Prosecutors Say High School Drama Turned Deadly - Sparrow Law Firm

On December 2, 2008, an Apex high school student was found dead. His hands and feet were tied with zip ties. His mouth was covered with duct tape. And a plastic bag was tied around his head. The autopsy later showed that the teenager died of asphyxiation.

During the past two years, investigators have tried to piece together what led to his death. This week, North Carolina prosecutors began making their case for murder charges against another Apex high school student and three of the victim’s friends.

The four years teens spend in high school are typically filled with drama, and most students experience their fair share of jealousy or anger. In this case, the prosecutors suggest that the suspect convinced three other people to participate in a plot to kill the victim because he was jealous of the victim’s friendship with his girlfriend.

Many people who knew the victim in 2008 testified about a seemingly far-fetched story that involved a fake would-be murderer named Roger, an angry teenage boy and a conspiracy to kill the victim. Based on this testimony, prosecutors identified one of the victim’s high school classmates as the “mastermind behind two plots to kill the teen.”

The teens that testified said that the suspect talked about a person named Roger who wanted to kill the victim. Others said that they “thought it was a joke. Everybody has a bad day with somebody.” They didn’t think the suspect would kill the victim.

The suspect is currently facing first-degree murder charges. Three other teens have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder as well.

Source: WRAL.com, “State builds on murder case in Apex teen’s slaying,” Amanda Lamb, 16 Sept 2010