Teens arrested in death of boy found in trash

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published February 18, 2007

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MIAMI - Four teenagers were arrested Saturday in the death of a boy whose decomposed body was found in a trash bin, police said.

Quintin A. Barnett, 15, was arrested on one count each of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence. Aspen Thermilus, 16, Keon Williams, 14, and Johnny Randle, 16, were each arrested on one count of accessory after the fact in a murder.

The Miami teens were being held in juvenile detention, Miami police spokesman Delrish Moss said.

All four confessed to their involvement in the death of 14-year-old Rod K. Williams, though their individual accounts differed as to how he died Feb. 2 at Randle's house, police said.

Barnett told investigators that Williams had been recklessly playing with a gun, and the gun fired in a struggle to take it away from him. Another told police he heard a gunshot from another room and found Barnett holding a gun as he stood over Williams, and the others said Barnett told them conflicting stories before showing them Williams' body in the back yard.

The four admitted placing Williams' body in plastic bags, then in a large garbage bin near warehouses in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood, police said.

The body was found Feb. 9.