Relatives: Teen Killed for Helping Friend

[deadparrot]

LOVELAND PARK, Ohio - A 13-year-old girl found shot to death in her bedroom died because she told authorities her best friend was being molested, family members say.

Katelind Caudill, a seventh-grader in this Cincinnati suburb, was killed early Monday, and authorities were searching for the friend's stepfather, Melvin Keeling, 43. He also is a suspect in the fatal shooting of two convenience store clerks in Indiana about four hours after Katelind's body was found.

Warren County sheriff's officials said that Katelind became "involved" in a sex abuse investigation of Keeling less than two days before she was killed. They declined to give details except to say she was not the victim in the case and was a friend of Keeling's oldest stepdaughter.

"She was just trying to protect her friend," said Debbie LeBlanc, a cousin of Katelind. "You're told to tell. She did the thing she was supposed to do by telling."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/killing_spree

[Arkana]

1. That is just awful on so many levels.

I hope they find that fucker of a stepfather and put him away for a VERY long time.

[spuddonna]

2. JMJ... That poor girl and her family...

That's so horrible... :cry:

[warrens]

3. This is why I can never be totally against the death penalty

It should be extremely rare, but this is one of those cases where it is richly deserved.

[Splatter Phoenix]

6. You sure?

The idea of the son of a bitch being screwed in prison for several years is much more appealing to me.

Death seems so sweet and merciless.

[Karmakaze]

4. Who told the stepfather that Katelind was involved?

The cops are making excuses as to why they couldn't have predicted this, yet not one word about how the stepfather knew Katelind was involved. Seems to me the cops are partially to blame for this girls death as not only did they not protect her, they didn't even protect her identity.

Something majorly wrong here...

[petronius]

7. That's a key question

Especially after he threatened her the day before - he should have been in jail immediately...

[Nay]

8. It may be only that the stepfather KNEW Katelind was the one,

because she was the only one really close to his stepdaughter. It may not have depended on anyone "telling." Still, if the girl had been threatened, she should have been in protective custody of some kind, I would think.

[ComerPerro]

5. That's just sick