2 teenagers charged in slaying of Neb. jail guard

GERING, Neb. (AP) — Two teenagers are facing adult felony charges after a 24-year-old guard at a western Nebraska jail was strangled in a cell on Valentine's Day.

Scotts Bluff County Attorney Doug Warner said Thursday in a news release that 16-year-old Guy Eagle Elk, of Lisco, has been charged as an adult with felony aiding and abetting assault. On Wednesday, 15-year-old Dylan Cardeilhac, of Torrington, Wyo., was charged as an adult with first-degree murder in the death of Amanda Baker.

The two teens were being held in a juvenile section of the Scotts Bluff County Detention Center in Gering, just east of the Wyoming border, when Baker was attacked. Cardeilhac was being held on charges of armed robbery and use of a weapon in a Dec. 3 convenience store robbery in nearby Mitchell. He also was charged as an adult in that case, according to online court documents. Eagle Elk had been convicted as a juvenile of shoplifting, according to the Scottsbluff Star-Herald.

Jail security video shows Cardeilhac talking Baker into checking something on his cell floor on Friday, then pouncing on the guard when she turned her back, according to an arrest affidavit. Authorities have said the video shows that Baker was strangled for more than 2 1/2 minutes.

Baker, the mother of a 6-year-old boy, was taken to a local hospital, where she later died.

An arrest affidavit for Eagle Elk says investigators believe he advised Cardeilhac to choke a jailer into submission after Cardeilhac told other inmates that he wanted to escape. The affidavit says Eagle Elk suggested Cardeilhac attack Baker, because she would be an easier target. The older teen then showed Cardeilhac through windows of door cells the best way to apply a choke hold, the affidavit says.

Neither Warner, the prosecutor, nor an attorney for Cardeilhac immediately returned messages Thursday seeking comment.

An attorney for Eagle Elk on his aiding and abetting charge is not listed in online court records