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Prosecutor: Girl, 13, texted man before stabbing

 
Published Feb. 5, 2016

A few details emerge

Prosecutor: Girl texted man before stabbing

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Two Virginia Tech students carefully planned the kidnapping and killing of a 13-year-old girl, arranging a pre-dawn rendezvous online after buying cleaning supplies and a shovel at separate Walmart stores, a prosecutor alleged Thursday.

Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Mary Pettitt described how authorities believe David Eisenhauer and Natalie Keepers plotted the stabbing death of Nicole Lovell, a seventh-grader who used social media to escape from bullying.

Pettitt revealed just enough information to persuade a judge to deny Keepers' bail, leaving key aspects of the crime a mystery.

But the prosecutor said messages on the girl's phone led to the suspects, and accused the college freshmen of deciding together in a fast-food restaurant that Eisenhauer would cut her throat.

Eisenhauer, 18, is jailed without bail on charges of kidnapping and first-degree murder.

Keepers, 19, is charged with being an accessory to kidnapping and murder and with helping to hide the body.

Associated Press