http://news.aol.com/story/_a/2-teens-charged-in-horrific-killings/20080618100409990001
Left, Flowers, age 16, Right, Thompson, age 17
MINNEAPOLIS (June 18) - Two teenagers were charged Tuesday in the killings of a woman who was stabbed and cut more than 100 times and her 10-year-old son, who had a television smashed over his head, prosecutors said.
Stafon Edward Thompson, 17, and Brian Lee Flowers, 16, both of Minneapolis, were each charged as adults with first-degree murder in the deaths of Katricia Daniels, 36, and her son, Robert Shepard. If convicted, the teens face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to criminal complaints, Thompson and Flowers blamed the killings on each other. They allegedly knew Daniels through her 15-year-old son, who lives in Chicago.
The boys indicated that robbery was a motive, but Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman doubted that, noting the extreme violence. The only thing apparently taken was Daniels' cell phone.
"We don't know why this murder was committed and we may never know why. The level of violence associated with this crime is difficult to comprehend and difficult to imagine," Freeman said.
Thompson and Flowers were being held pending their first court appearances Wednesday, when they will be assigned public defenders. Neither could be reached for comment; jail inmates in Hennepin County are not allowed to take phone calls.
Daniels' boyfriend, Joseph Williams, found the bodies Thursday morning. Williams' 1-year-old daughter was bloody but unharmed. Daniels' body was found in the bathroom while Shepard was in a bedroom.
Blood was spattered throughout the house, and bloody footprints, handprints and fingerprints were left behind, the complaint said.
Police recovered two knives and a golf club in the Daniels' house that they believe were used in the killings. They also found a knife in a garbage can in the alley.
Freeman said it appeared that Daniels had welcomed the teens into her home when they first arrived June 11.
Investigators were led to the teens by a call made on Daniels' cell phone.
