9-year-old boy was arrested without bail onTuesday after being charged as an adult in the killing of a 90-year-old woman who was held down with a walking stick and beaten at her caretaker's home. police said when the boy, Tristen Kurilla, lost his temper with the woman Saturday, he grabbed a cane and hooked it around her neck and then held her down and beat her. According to mcall reports today,
State police have charged the boy with criminal homicide in the death of Helen Novak.
"I killed that lady," he told the policeon Saturday during interrogation at the state police barracks
The boy was visiting his grandfather, Anthony Virbitsky, Saturday at his Damascus home, Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards said. Virbitsky was Novak's caretaker. While visiting Virbitsky, Tristen went into Novak's room around 10 a.m. to ask a question. Tristen told police Novak yelled at him to leave the room. Tristen, "very mad" at Novak's response, left the room and grabbed a wooden cane, police said. The boy told police Novak was sitting upright at the end of her bed when he came behind her, hooked the cane around her throat and pulled back. "I was only trying to hurt her," Tristen told police. Tristen said he pushed the cane into Novak's throat for four to five seconds. He took the cane off her throat then punched her five times in the throat and five times in the stomach, according to police.The boy went to his grandfather and told him Novak was bleeding from the mouth, police said. Virbitsky told police he did not find any blood when he first checked on Novak around 10:30 a.m., but the woman was "breathing heavy and looked scared."He found her unresponsive around 11 a.m. and called 911, the district attorney said.
An autopsy Monday at Wayne Memorial Hospital in Honesdale by Dr. Gary Ross found blunt force trauma to Novak's neck. Ross told police Novak's injuries were consistent with Tristen's account and identified one of the blows to her neck as the cause of her death. No bail was set and Tristen was sent to Wayne County Prison. He is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 22. Although charged as an adult, Tristen can petition the court for a hearing asking to move his case to juvenile court, Edwards said.
He was charged as an adult because homicide is excluded from the offenses that juveniles can be charged with under Pennsylvania laws, she said. He also was charged as an adult with aggravated assault.
His mother told police the boy had a history of "mental difficulties." His mental state may be considered if he later petitions the court to transfer his case to juvenile court, the district attorney's office said.
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