KATELYNN ARNOLD - 9 yo - Ragland (40 miles NE of Birmingham) AL

Alabama boy, 14, charged with murder of half-sister

By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 2:59 PM EDT, Fri May 11, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: The victim was 9 years old, authorities say
  
• NEW: The sheriff says he has "no idea" of motive
  
• NEW: The coroner says the cause of death was strangulation by ligature
  

(CNN) -- A 14-year-old boy has been charged with murder in the death of his
9-year-old half-sister, whose body was found attached to a rope hanging
from a tree, Alabama authorities said Friday.

St. Clair County Sheriff Terry Surles said the victim, Katelynn Arnold, was discovered
Thursday night outside her home in Ragland, some 40 miles northeast of
Birmingham.

The child was taken to St. Clair Regional Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, he said.

Citing laws covering juveniles, Surles would not identify the suspect. A
hearing has been set to decide whether he will be certified as an adult.

Both children lived with foster parents at the home where the body was found, he said.

It was not clear whether they were related to the foster family, he said.
"We're trying to find out who's related to who," Surles said.

Asked what the motive may have been, he said, "I have no idea."

But he said he had no doubt that the killing was no accident. "That's why he's charged with murder," he said.

The victim's foster mother found the child in the yard after having
searched for her by driving around the neighborhood, he said. "This
child was actually touching the ground; it wasn't as if she was dangling
on from a tree limb."

Surles said the cotton rope had been tied
to a limb in a figure-8 knot, not a noose. "That rope apparently had
been used for an old tire swing and I think during a storm last year the
tree got blown down. The rope was readily available."

The boy was taken into custody Thursday night, Surles said.

Neighbors had seen the children in the yard earlier in the day, he said.

St. Clair County Coroner Dennis Russell said the cause of death was
ligature strangulation. He has ruled the case a homicide, he said.

www.cnn.com/2012/05/11/justice/alabama-hanged-girl/index.html

The funeral for a 9-year-old girl who was found hanging in a tree
Thursday night will take place on Monday, ABC affiliate 33/40 reports.

The
service for Katelynn Arnold will be held at Hardin's Chapel Bible
Methodist Church in Ragland at 2 p.m., following a visitation from noon
until 2 p.m. The burial will then take place at Hardin's Chapel
Cemetery.

Arnold's 14-year-old half brother is in custody for
her murder. She was found hanging in a tree in her front yard Thursday
evening.

http://www.100wapi.com/rssItem.asp?feedid=130&itemid=29848065

Alabama boy, 15, who 'hanged his 9-year-old half-sister from a tree' will be tried as an adult

The Alabama 15-year-old boy accused of hanging his 9-year-old half-sister will be tried as an adult.
St. Clair County District Attorney Richard Minor said his request to have the Ragland, Alabama teen tried as an adult was granted Wednesday.

John Dillon Salers is accused of calling over to a tree and then hanging her from it with a rope.

The girl's foster mother later found her hanging from the rope, according to AI.com.


Unthinkable: Katelynn Arnold (left) was found hanging dead from a tree in May 2012. Her half-brother John Dillon Salers, right, is accused of murdering her and will by tried as an adult

It was tied deliberately in a simple knot around the girl's neck, but was not a hangman's noose, St. Clair County Sheriff Terry Surles said.

Salers went to bed after she was taken to the hospital but was arrested in the early hours of the morning.

Police said he admitted to killing Katelynn and told officers a motive—but that motive was not revealed.


Pictured: The area in which Salers is accused of hanging hyis young sister from a tree in rural Alabama

The boy and girl were living with their aunt and uncle as part of a foster home situation, Surles said.

According to the Katelynn's maternal grandfather John Henry Arnold, this was because their mother struggled with personal problems.

'She had problems and was working on them,' Arnold told WBRC last year. 'She's not handling this very well at all.'

Nevertheless, he said, 'the kids were where they should be.'

Arnold said at the time that he believes his granddaughter's death was an accident.

'I've never seen him angry or aggressive or nothing like that,' Arnold said of Salers.

Katelynn had been riding her bicycle on Thursday evening and her aunt noticed she was missing so drove around looking for her for 45 minutes.

When she returned home, she found the girl handing from a tree outside the home. The sheriff's department was called at 8.10 p.m.


Adult: St. Clair County Sheriff Terry Surles said the rope had deliberately been knotted. The district attorney's request to try Salers as an adult for the crime has been granted

By the time officers arrived, rescuers had removed Katelynn from the tree. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.

An autopsy showed she died as a result of strangulation by ligature and her death was ruled as a homicide.

The case has now been turned over to a grand jury.

The girl was remembered as a 'sweet little angel' by her school principal Roger Wilkinson. 'If you were a teacher, you'd like a room full of them,' he told the Birmingham News.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2400280/Alabama-boy-15-hanged-9-year-old-half-sister-tree-tried-adult.html

Sure has taken them long enough.  She was a pretty little girl. William