Indiana ordered to find facility for girl accused in attack
ELKHART, Ind. (AP) – A northern Indiana judge and a juvenile court magistrate have ordered Indiana’s Division of Mental Health to find a psychiatric institution for a 12-year-old Elkhart girl accused of fatally stabbing her stepmother.
The Elkhart Truth reports that an Elkhart County juvenile court magistrate and a circuit court judge signed a court order this week ordering the girl’s placement after more than 10 mental health treatment facilities refused to accept her.
Magistrate Deborah Domine called the decision a “last resort” and the “only option available.”
A juvenile delinquency petition for murder that’s similar to formal charges in adult court was filed Aug. 3.
Police say the girl had argued with her stepmother late on July 23, started a fire in her own bedroom and stabbed the woman during a confrontation.