The mother of the 12-year-old Oklahoma girl who stabbed her brother to death in a ‘demonic’ rage says she was a normal child until she went back on a medication that she’d been taken off for a year, and that had caused her to start cutting herself.
The girl, who DailyMail.com is not naming, is now being treated in a children’s facility in Tulsa.
On January 5, she stabbed her nine-year-old brother, Zander, to death in their home in an as-yet unexplained attack.
Her mother told police she stabbed him three times while he was lying in his bed, trying to sleep.
Afterwards, as she was being placed into handcuffs, the girl sobbed: ‘I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened.
‘It’s some demonic s**t’.
The girl, who DailyMail.com is not naming, is now being treated in a children’s facility in Tulsa. On January 5, she stabbed her nine-year-old brother, Zander, to death in their home in an as-yet unexplained attack
Mom April Lyda with her son, Zander, on a GoFundme appeal for the family after his 12-year-old sister was accused of stabbing him to death
”They were good kids… they were raised as God fearing children and never had behavioral issues until she was put back on a medication she was off for over a year,’ the girl’s mother said
The case resurfaced this week with the release of harrowing bodycam footage of her arrest, and her mother, April’s initial conversations with police while her son was in the hospital.
He died of his injuries a short time later. In all of the footage released by Tulsa Police Department, the mother and daughter both believe the boy is still alive.
In the months since the attack, April’s friends have set up a fundraiser to help her move with her three-year-old son. Her 12-year-old daughter remains in a juvenile facility receiving treatment.
In an update on the fundraising page – which has so far raised $10,000 – the grieving mother told this week how her daughter was a ‘normal’ teenage’ who never even ‘yelled’ at her until she went back on an unspecified medication that she’d stopped taking for a year.
‘They were good kids… they were raised as God fearing children and never had behavioral issues until she was put back on a medication she was off for over a year,’ she said.
She did not specify what type of medication the girl was taking but said, ‘no it wasn’t psych meds’.
The stabbing took place at the family home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in January
The edited video begins with the girl running downstairs as she yells, ‘I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry’
Zander Lyda who was stabbed to death in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on January 5 this year
Since killing her brother in January, the girl has been receiving treatment in a center where her mother says she seems to be improving.
‘She has been very well behaved the entire 6 months she has been gone.
‘I’m very supportive of her and love her very much. Obviously there is a lot of healing that we both need before we can ever live together again and she needs mental and emotional help after this, she could have permanent damage we don’t know yet…’ she said.
When she was taken into custody, the girl had cuts on her arms which she told police were self-inflicted.
The girl’s mother said this week she never self-harmed until she went back on the medication.
‘My daughter was not a cutter. ‘She had old cuts from two months prior from when she was first put back on her meds and everyone agreed to take her off immediately and so I did and unfortunately it was too late the damage was done.’
April with her ex-husband, Zander’s father Levi, and the girl when she was a child. They’re shown in 2013, after Zander’s birth
She added that when she first entered the room where her daughter stabbed Zander, she thought an intruder was to blame.
‘I was confused and shocked, I thought someone broke into my Home and hurt my kids and I thought my daughter ran away for safety.
‘I did not ever think or imagine that one of my kids would do such a thing.
‘She was as normal as your child, as any 12-year-old.’
It remains unclear what will come of the child if and when she completes her treatment program. The disturbing bodycam footage is 25 minutes long and shows the moment the girl, screaming and running out of the house, is met with police officers.
It begins with the girl running out of the family home, screaming ‘I’m so sorry mama! I don’t know what happened!’
She continued to apologize, choking on tears while sitting with her legs crossed on the grass outside the family home.
‘I really didn’t want this to happen like this, this sucks. I’m probably going to go to jail and live the rest of my life in prison,’ she sobbed while helping police retrieve the knife she threw out of her bedroom window after carrying out the attack.
Her mother, upon realizing it was her daughter who’d committed the violent attack, is stunned.
Pictured: The Family Center for Juvenile Justice in Tulsa, where the 12-year-old girl was being held after the fatal stabbing in January
‘You used a knife?! You stabbed him in the chest!? I don’t know what happened but I have to go with your brother and make sure he’s OK,’ she tells her.
An ambulance leaves the home with Zander and his mother, leaving the girl at the scene with police.
The footage then shows conversations between the girl and a supervising police officer.
She cries, wails, and prays – begging in a whisper ‘God, help me’ – while sat in the back of the police car.
At points, she is more upbeat.
‘Are these handcuffs necessary? I’m a good child,’ she asks at one point.
Fixated on the idea of prison, she tells the officer she is convinced she has ‘ruined’ her life.
He consoled her compassionately before taking her to the police station at 03.52am.
Upon their arrival, he told another officer that the girl had been asleep in the back of the car. At the hospital, her mother April was desperately searching for answers.
‘My 12 year old daughter, I don’t understand why she would do something like that, she’s 12.’
She described how she had been upstairs in the home when she heard the boy screaming.
‘He was in bed, he was downstairs trying to sleep. I don’t know why she even went down there, I don’t understand any of it all I know is I heard him screaming the worst scream ever. I thought maybe he was having a nightmare so I tried waking him up and there’s blood everywhere and he said “she stabbed me, she stabbed me”.
‘I was like “who?!” And then he started going in and out of consciousness.’
Police then asked for a search warrant for the home to assist their investigation.
‘We need a search waver for the apartment. You don’t have to authorize but it would really aid our investigation,’ he said.
April shot back: ‘We know what happened. My daughter says she got a knife and stabbed him three times.’
Their interview ended when Zander’s father, Levi Layda, and grandmother, arrived at the scene.
The cop walked out of the hospital family room and started speaking with a nurse outside.
‘She was upstairs, he was downstairs asleep and she just heard screaming, she came down, she thought he was having a nightmare until she saw the blood.’
The nurse, horrified, replied: ‘You wonder what’s going on in a 12-year-old’s mind.’
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