Only 12, she was lured by another child, a boy of 15, with an appeal to look for his lost cat. At this time, he is facing charges for aggravated murder charge in juvenile court, but prosecutors are trying to get that changed.
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The Associated Press is not naming the defendant because he is a juvenile.
The teen allegedly tried a similar ruse to trick another girl out of her home in suburban Salt Lake City about 20 minutes before moving on to Vijil’s home, according to documents, reported the New York Post. He actually knocked on their door asking for help.
He asked her older 14-year-old sister first to go with him and she told him no, but then Kailey said that she would go.
When she failed to return immediately, her mother began searching for her and alerted police.
Officers pinged Vijil’s cell phone, which led them at about 2:55 a.m.to an overgrown horse pasture near 3600 South and 5200 West, about a half-mile from where the girl lived. Her body was found “with a shirt wrapped around her neck”, charging documents state.
Kailey Vijil, 12, thought she was helping look for the boy’s lost cat before she was strangled to death. The parents intervened and later, the grandmother pointed out the suspect’s house, the Tribune added. Reports are not sharing yet if the young girl was actually sexually abused or not.
The 15-year-old had been in plenty of trouble in his young life. It seems that he has been arrested before, on smaller charges, such as theft, burglary, or possession of drug paraphernalia.
On Monday, the boy was in court for a brief detention hearing before 3rd District Juvenile Judge Kim Hornak. In May, he was placed in an “observation and assessment facility”, and spent 44 days there. He spent 44 days there before he was released and placed on probation July 9, about a week before Kailey was killed.
The authorities are also reportedly investigating possible sexual assault in the case.
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