A 12-year-old now faces a murder charge in connection in the stabbing of Verkerke.  He pleads not guilty and is evaluated at a facility before going to a detention center. If he is found guilty he will be sentenced as a juvenile and then once he turns 21 an adult. Tiffany Armijo, mother of one of the children playing with the victim, on Verkerke:

He was playing with Michael and his brother, and my kid, too. They always played together. He was at my house almost every day.