Deputies: Florida teen asked beating victim "why he wouldn’t die"
LEESBURG, Fla. - A Central Florida teen is accused of choking and beating a boy and leaving him naked and unconscious in the woods, officials said.
The 16-year-old teen from Leesburg told Lake County Sheriff’s investigators he intended to kill the boy because of something the boy said about the teen’s sister, according to an arrest affidavit.
The boy’s parents called the sheriff’s office around 8:45 p.m. Monday after he didn’t return home from a bike ride.
The Orlando Sentinel reported that deputies found the boy early Tuesday. He was naked, his eyes were nearly swollen shut and his mouth was bleeding, according to deputies.
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The boy told investigators that he was choked until he passed out. When he woke up, the boy said he was in the woods and was being punched. He said the attacker was "asking him why he wouldn’t die," the arrest report said.
Later, he walked to a nearby road, where deputies found him. The report said the boy told deputies he thought he knew where the teen who attacked him lived. When deputies approached the teen and his father, the teen began walking toward the woods and told them that’s where the victim’s belongings were, the arrest report said.
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The teen later told investigators he saw the victim riding his bike and started talking with him. He claimed the boy said something about his sister, provoking him to choke the boy and drag him into the woods, the report said.
Even as the boy "begged him to stop," he kept hitting and kicking him, the teen told investigators. The teen said the boy faded in and out of consciousness multiple times.
The teen was charged with attempted felony murder, kidnapping with bodily harm and robbery, records show. His case was turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice.