14 DAY TRIAL // Two teenage brothers, whose names cannot be disclosed due to laws protecting juvenile delinquents, were charged with the murder of missing 12-year-old Autumn Pasquale.
According to the local newspaper, the Middletown Patch, the 12-year-old girl from New Jersey was lured into their home and strangled. The teens tried to dispose of the body by dumping it in a recycling bin, on Tuesday afternoon.
The brothers, ages 15 and 17, chose to throw the body away in nearby Clayton. There is a possibility that they will be tried as adults, reports say.
The two boys lived five blocks away from Autumn Pasquale. Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean Dalton has stated in a press conference that they will be charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, disposing of a body, tampering with evidence and theft.
Autopsy results revealed that the pre-teen died of blunt force trauma consistent with strangulation, Dalton explained.
The boys' mother was the one that turned them in, and that pointed police in the direction of the girl's body. She based her assumption on a “like” of Pasquale's Facebook page, and on an entry regarding her bike, that one of her sons had commented on.
Police officers acquired a warrant to search the teenagers' home, and they found Autumn Pasquale's BMX bike inside, along with other belongings. The young boys have been known to trade BMX bike parts, but no motive for the brutal killing has been made public at this point.
"Today we mourn the loss of a young girl whose life was tragically cut short before it even began. [...] I know a lot of you are angry, and you have a right to be angry. At this point, we need to put anger aside. We have to let justice take its course," Prosecutor Dalton said.