Juvenile faces trial as adult in Hillsborough show-off murder case

TAMPA — The 16-year-old co-defendant accused of fatally striking a man with a whiskey bottle and then showing off the body will be tried as an adult on first degree murder charges.

Amer Ali Ejak had originally had been held at a juvenile detention center. He was booked into Orient Road Jail Monday, and court records show he was indicted on a first degree murder charge Thursday.

Deputies said that two weeks ago Ejak and Christopher Cox, 22, killed Thomas Johannesen, a 34-year-old father, then wrapped his body in a sheet, hid it in a closet and returned to show it to their friends. It is unclear how the two suspects knew Johannesen, or even how they knew each other. Ejak and Cox are both being held in Orient Road Jail without bail.