17-Year-Old Girl Allegedly Used Parents' Debit Card To Pay Off Hitmen To Kill Them

A Florida 17-year-old is accused of stealing her parents' debit card, pillaging their accounts, and using the money to hire hitmen to kill them.

The girl, who Oxygen.com is not naming at this time because she's a minor, was charged on Tuesday with two counts of criminal solicitation for first-degree murder after authorities say she used her parents' debit card to withdraw more than $1,400, which she subsequently used to pay two different individuals to kill her parents, according to a Lake County Sheriff’s Office press release. 

Police learned of the murder-for-hire scheme after a friend of the suspect allegedly told authorities that the teen had given her “a lot of money” to kill her parents. The teen suspect allegedly paid out $400 to the unidentified friend to perform the slayings. But when the plan didn’t materialize, police said she unloaded more cash from her parents' bank account and gave $900 to another man to whack her mother and father. 

During their investigation, law enforcement discovered a couple of mysterious transactions on the parents’ stolen debit card — one for $503 and another for $926.40 — which were “later identified as money given to two different individuals to kill her parents,” an arrest affidavit obtained by Oxygen.com stated. 

The teen's boyfriend also allegedly confessed that she had confided in him regarding the murder plot. He told investigators that he saw his high school girlfriend the morning of Sept. 9 at a “known drug house,” where she told him of the alleged plot.

“She advised him she wanted to kill her parents,” the affidavit stated. 

The teen suspect allegedly told detectives she spent the remaining $100 stolend from her parents on a small quantity of cocaine. 

The high school student was taken into custody by police in Umatilla, a small city about 40 miles north of Orlando. 

Following her arrest, investigators said that the girl's parents were intent on pressing charges against their daughter over the murder conspiracy. It’s unknown what motivated the alleged murder-for-hire plot.

The teenager was taken into custody and transported to the Lake County Jail earlier this week. She’s currently being held at a juvenile detention center without bond. Her arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 3 in Tavares, according to Lake County prosecutors. It’s unclear if the teen has retained legal representation. 

She could face a maximum of 60 years in prison if she’s tried and convicted as an adult. Prosecutors haven’t yet determined if the 17-year-old will be tried as a juvenile, or an adult, but Walter Forgie, a division supervisor for the Lake County State Attorney's Office, told Oxygen.com that his office hopes to make a decision in the coming weeks ahead of the teen's autumn trial. The girl turned 17 in June. 

Sergeant Fred Jones, public information officer for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, didn’t respond to Oxygen.com’s request for comment.