A 16-year-old Utah boy has been charged as an adult with the murder of his 15-year-old girlfriend on Saturday.
An arrest affidavit for Hezekiah Plummer says he showed up at Chanella Alvarez’s home at about 1 a.m. on Saturday saying he had nowhere to stay, KSL reported. The documents says he “was known to run away” from his own home and stay at Alvarez’s until her parents made him leave on several occasions.
“He kept at least some belongings in the home until he was last made to move out of the home a couple weeks prior,” the affidavit says. “This made him a cohabitant of the victim.”
A witness reported hearing a gunshot at about 3 a.m. Saturday and came downstairs to investigate, encountering Plummer on the stairs with a gun in his hand. The boy claimed a someone he knew tried to rob them then fled the home with the gun.
“The witness went downstairs and discovered (Chanelle) with the gunshot wound and called police,” the affidavit says.
The charges says that Alvarez died from a single gunshot wound the head and that there was stippling around the wound, “indicating the shooter was in close range.”
The affidavit noted that a gun was missing from the Alvarez home and suggested it may have been the murder weapon. The gun’s box was found in Alvarez’s bedroom.
Authorities tracked Plummer to neighboring Davis County, where they found him in possession of several ounces of marijuana and more than $4,000 in cash. He refused to speak with detectives.
Plummer has been charged with murder, obstruction, theft of a firearm, possession of a dangerous weapon by a minor, and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Prosecutors have requested no bail.
Authorities have not indicated a motive for the murder but does indicate that it was a domestic violence incident.
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[Featured image: Chanelle Alvarez/GoFundMe]
