A Utah teen will be tried for murder in the hanging suicide of a 16-year-old girl whose death 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 on Tuesday that he would stand trial in the death of Jchandra Brown, who asked Przybycien, a close friend, to help end her life.
The teen texted Brown that he was excited to watch someone die, prosecutors say. “It be awesome,” he wrote. It would “be like getting away with murder,” he added, according to authorities.
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Prosecutors say he planned the details of Brown’s suicide with her, including buying rope and a spray air duster and researching where Brown would eventually hang herself.
Authorities say Przybycien picked Brown up for work on May 5 and drove her to Maple Lake, where he helped tie the rope to a tree and tie a noose, because she didn’t know how.
He fashioned a pedestal for her to stand on, according to prosecutors, and used a cell phone to video tape her putting the noose around her neck and inhaling the pressurized air, which caused her to pass out and fall off the pedestal.
He filmed for 10 minutes and left the phone near her body, along with a receipt showing Przybycien’s credit card was used to purchase the rope, prosecutors said.
Pryzybycien said his client did not end Brown’s life, and that she was responsible for her death.
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.
Brown’s mother felt like Przybycien had “groomed” her daughter to kill herself.
“Friends don’t let friends die,” the mother told Fox 13, “So Tyerell was not a friend.”
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Brown’s aunt, Polly Mejia, went further with her words, as she spoke to KSL.
“Her problem was she thought she’d found a friend,” Mejia said. “Instead she’d found a monster.”
Photo Credit: Twitter / @SlyvanusBooks
