Teen Faces Murder Trial For Allegedly Helping 16-Year-Old Girl Hang Herself: 'It Be Awesome'
A Utah teen will be tried for murder in the hanging suicide of a 16-year-old girl whose twisting body was captured on video.
Tyerell Przybycien, 18, has been charged with murder and a misdemeanor count of failing to report a dead body.
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A judge ruled Tuesday that he should stand trial in the death of Jchandra Brown, who asked Przybycien, a close friend, to help end her life.
The teen texted a friend, saying he was excited to watch someone die, according to prosecutors. “It be awesome,” he wrote. It would “be like getting away with murder,” he added, according to authorities.
He painstakingly planned the details with her, prosecutors said, even buying rope and a spray air duster. He picked up for work on May 5 and drove her to Maple Lake, a site he had researched, authorities said.
Przybycien helped fasten the rope to a tree and tied a noose for the girl because she didn’t know how, investigators said.
He fashioned a pedestal for her to stand on, prosecutors said. He used a cellphone to take video of her putting the noose around her neck and inhaling the pressurized air, which caused her to pass out and fall off the pedestal.
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He continued filming for 10 minutes, authorities said. The phone was left near her body, along with a receipt showing Przybycien’s credit card was used to purchase the rope, prosectuors said.
The young man’s attorney said his client’s actions did not cause the girl’s death and that she was responsible for ending her life.
Tuesday’s court ruling said it was “reasonable to infer” that he intended to cause Brown’s death and without his acts, she would not have died.
If convicted of murder, Przybycien could face 15 years to life in prison. He is expected to enter a plea later this month.
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