Girl, 16, Sentenced to Youth Authority in Slaying of Neighbor

A 16-year-old Northridge girl was sentenced Thursday to the California Youth Authority for fatally stabbing a 62-year-old neighbor and then bragging about it to friends.

The teen-ager, whose 13- and 17-year-old sisters face separate trials for their alleged roles in the November, 1991, slaying of Meta Francis Murphy, showed little reaction as Sylmar Juvenile Court Commissioner Jack Gold ordered her confined to the state correctional facility for juveniles.

Under state law, a juvenile can be confined only until his or her 25th birthday, unless the juvenile is tried as an adult, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas Rubinson.

The teen-ager was not tried as an adult because a juvenile must be at least 16 when the crime was committed. Rubinson said the eldest sister, who was 16 at the time, is not being tried as an adult because her involvement was minimal.

After a three-day trial, Gold on Jan. 13 upheld a petition--the equivalent of a conviction--charging the 16-year-old girl with murder and a special charge of using a knife in the slaying of Murphy, a librarian who lived next to the sisters on Mayall Street.

Prosecutors said that Murphy, who worked at the Panorama City library branch and lived alone, was stabbed 11 times in the back and three times in the chest. Her body was dumped in a closet.

The case, which shocked the quiet residential complex where the crime occurred, remained unsolved for months until at least one acquaintance of the sisters told police she heard the two older girls boasting about the killing, Rubinson said.

Eleven witnesses were called during the trial, including two teen-agers who testified that the sisters bragged about the killing.

The eldest sister allegedly turned up music to drown out the woman’s screams as she was attacked, Rubinson said. The youngest sister allegedly handed the knife to the middle sister, who stabbed the woman repeatedly.

The 13-year-old sister is scheduled to go on trial Feb. 8, and the 17-year-old’s trial is set for March 10.