Boy, 10, accused of killing woman, 90

PENNSYLVANIA - He is just 10 years old and is accused of killing a 90-year-old woman.

"I killed that lady," Tristen Kurilla told a state trooper, after the woman was found dead in the home of the boy's grandfather in the US state of Pennsylvania. The child made the chilling confession on Saturday, after his mother took him to the Pennsylvania State Police Barracks north of Philadelphia, local TV channel KTLA5 reported.

Tristen will be charged as an adult. The boy was visiting his grandfather on Saturday when he stepped into the room of Ms Helen Novak. His grandfather was the elderly woman's caregiver. She reportedly yelled at the boy to get out of her room.

Tristen left the room, but returned after a while. Tristen told that police that he lost his temper and entered Ms Novak's room again with a wooden cane. He went behind the elderly woman and "put the cane around her throat and pulled back", court documents said.

The police said the boy told them he hooked the cane around Ms Novak's neck and punched her several times in the throat and five times in the stomach. He then went to his grandfather, Mr Anthony Virbitsky, and told him that Ms Novak was bleeding from her mouth.

The grandfather told police he went to check on the woman, but saw no signs of blood, although she appeared distraught. Within half an hour, she was unresponsive. "I was only trying to hurt her," Tristen apparently told detectives.

An autopsy on Monday found blunt force trauma to Ms Novak's neck. The doctor who performed the autopsy told the police that her injuries were consistent with the boy's account.

He identified one of the blows to her neck as the cause of her death. According to court documents cited by local news channel WFMZ, the boy's mother, Ms Martha Virbitsky, told police that she "has had a lot of trouble with Tristen and that he has had some mental difficulties".

He is being held without bail pending an Oct 22 preliminary hearing. 

This article was first published on Oct 16, 2014.
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