A 14-year-old Indiana boy accused of suffocation by his two brothers and sisters

VERSAILLES, Indiana –

14-year-old Indiana boy accused of suffocating his two younger brothers and sisters, told investigators he killed them so they would not "live in hell," say prosecutors .

Ripley County Attorney Richard Hertel said Wednesday that the teenager was arrested last week on murder charges in May 2017 for the murder of his 23-month-old half-sister Desiree McCartney. half-brother Nathaniel Ritz at their home in Osgood, a rural community located about 96 kilometers southeast of Indianapolis.

In an affidavit of probable cause filed in court, the authorities claim that the teenager, aged 13 at the time of death, told investigators that he had used a towel to suffocate his half-sister and a blanket to kill his half-brother.

Hertel said that the teenager was informed of the charges against him on Monday after which the judge said that he would decide if the teenager was competent to judge before deciding whether to grant it or not. not the prosecutor's request to be tried as an adult. .

The boy, who is being held in a juvenile center, has been indicted following a state police investigation, according to which Hertel is proceeding.

According to the affidavit, the teenager told investigators who had questioned him about the deaths of his siblings that he "had had a conversation with God about them, but that" He could not talk about it because he had promised God that he would not tell anyone. "

In another interrogation, the teenager began to "talk about saving Desiree and Nathaniel from hell and chains of fire". He then added that "he did not want them to live in hell," before describing how he had choked the kids.

When asked what this "hell" was, the boy responded "chores," before asking investigators when they had seen the list of daily tasks that he had to accomplish, says l & # 39; affidavit.

According to the affidavit, the teenage grandmother told the investigators that when she asked him why he had killed his siblings, he had replied that "he did not did not want them to be treated as he had been. " She also explained how he had firmly held the towel and blanket over their head to smother them.

An uncle told investigators that the night before Nathaniel Ritz's death, the teenager had told him that Ritz's father had bloodied the teen's nose.

Hertel said that the motivations of the teenager are still unclear, but that the doctors who will examine it will be able to enlighten them.

"During my stay here, which lasted 19 years, I'm not sure I've seen anything as disturbing and definitive as that," he said at a news conference. press conference in Versailles.

The prosecutor said that shortly before the death of the half-sister of the teenager, the boy squeezed a kitten so hard that his bowels came out, telling his relatives that he had scratched her .

Hertel said the suspect's father is currently in jail and that he thinks the boy's mother is cooperating with the investigation.

Neighbor Becky Horn told WLWT-TV that the death of the children had surprised the small community.

"All our street, we were in tears for weeks about it," said Horn.