CHUCKEY, Tenn. (WJHL) — A Greene County teenager allegedly admitted to killing a grandmother and her 7-year-old grandson with a hammer April 24 and told a detective he planned the killing, reports obtained by News Channel 11 reveal.
The juvenile, whom District Attorney Dan Armstrong is wanting to try as an adult, “admitted to hitting the victim in the head multiple times with a hammer,” one of two statements from Greene County Juvenile Court reads. “He stated he began planning to kill the victim earlier the same afternoon,” it adds.
The petitioner in the statements is Detective Jeff Davis.
The statement is one of two that are nearly identical, with the names of Sherry Cole, 59, and Jessie Allen, 7, redacted. The second statement reads that the suspect “admitted to striking the victim in the head with a hammer and had been planning killing earlier the same afternoon.”
The bodies of Cole and Allen were found just after midnight on April 25 by police, who stated that bloody tools were found near them.
Davis’s petitions both state the victims had apparent head trauma when found. Referencing the alleged admission of thinking about the killings earlier in the afternoon, each statement includes the sentence, “This act was premeditated and intentional.”
Armstrong has said that if the suspect is tried as an adult — which he favors given what he called “the nature and brutality” of the crimes — he could receive a much more severe sentence if convicted.
Judge Ken Bailey issued a gag order in the case earlier Monday, making it unlikely more documents in the case will be released soon.
The suspect’s next court appearance is set for May 12, for a juvenile detention hearing. After that, he faces a transfer hearing on whether the case can be moved to adult court.
