Boy Sentenced in Strangling of 8-Year-Old
A boy who strangled his 8-year-old neighbor when he was 12 was sentenced Thursday to an indefinite stay in a residential center to get treatment for behavioral disorders, depression and anger management.
Treatment officials will decide how long to keep the boy, Judge Daniel Camp ruled. After treatment, the boy will be on probation for six months.
The boy, now 14 and not named because of his age, agreed last month to be sentenced for the death of Amy Yates, who disappeared in April 2004 while riding her bicycle through the mobile home park where she lived.
The boy strangled Yates and dragged her to a weedy ditch dozens of yards away. Her body was found five hours after she vanished.
The boy showed no emotion during the juvenile court hearing and did not speak except to tell the judge that he understood the sentence.
The maximum jail time he could have received was two years, and he has already spent 15 months behind bars. His sentence to a residential treatment center will allow him to be kept under state supervision longer.
The girl’s parents brought pictures of her to court Thursday, including photos of her in her coffin.
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