Utah boy accused of killing neighbor girl now charged with rape

A 15-year-old West Valley City boy charged with first-degree felony aggravated murder in the July death of 12-year-old neighbor girl, Kailey Vijil, has also been charged with first-degree felony rape of a child.

The announcement came during a Thursday hearing as 3rd District Juvenile Court Judge James Michie sought to explain why he had ordered the teen now be shackled at his ankles and wrists during court appearances.

"It's because of the serious nature of the charges," Michie said.

The boy, whom police say lured Vigil from her home just before midnight on July 16 with a story about looking for a lost cast, was already facing a first-degree felony aggravated murder charge.

Court papers filed on Aug. 13 say a medical examiner found the girl had been sexually assaulted and that DNA found on her body matched DNA samples from the boy.

Salt Lake County prosecutors want the boy certified for trial in adult court — a fact Michie explained would significantly increase the scale of punishment the teen faces, if convicted of the charges.

"It's a big deal, do you understand that?" Michie asked the boy, who sat with his back to the courtroom gallery and mostly nodded responses to Michie's questions. "That is why we are taking things carefully and slowly. I have many things to evaluate."

Because of his age, the teen could not receive the death penalty, even if he is convicted of the crimes in adult court. He could however, be handed a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Currently, the boy is being held in a juvenile detention facility. Bail is set at more than $1 million.

Another hearing in the case is set for Oct. 15.

The Salt Lake Tribune does not identify juvenile defendants unless they have been certified to stand trial in adult court.

Defense attorneys specifically asked Michie for at least six weeks between hearings to allow time to conduct interviews and gather records and other relevant information related to all aspects of the teen's life, including medical, educational, social, family and psychological information they said they need to understand before deciding how to move the case forward.

One concern is whether the boy is mentally competent to participate in his own defense and stand trial. In past hearings, attorneys had said they feared the teen does not understand the court process or proceedings.

On Thursday, defense attorney Michael Sikora said seeking a competency hearing is "a very real possibility" and that in the past the boy had been diagnosed with an attention-deficit disorder.

"We don't know what we are dealing with yet," Sikora said.

After the hearing, Deputy District Attorney Patricia Cassell said she has no objection to taking time to carefully gather information. She also declined to say why it took more than a month to file the rape charge, even though search warrant affidavits unsealed earlier this month revealed police suspected a sex assault and described injuries — scratch marks on Vijil's chest — consistent with an assault.

The affidavit says that near her body, police found the clothes she was last seen in when she left her home to help the suspect: Black flannel pajama bottoms with Batman logos on them and a shirt with a pink cape attached to the back.

According to a probable cause statement, the teen boy knocked on Vijil's door at around midnight on July 16, asking for help finding his lost cat. The girl's 14-year-old sister initially answered, but told the boy she wouldn't help him, court records say.

Vijil was first reported missing at about 1:30 a.m. on July 17, after her mother was out looking for her daughter and happened upon some police officers at a 7-Eleven near 3500 South and 5200 West, according to police.

Officers pinged Vijil's cell phone, which led them at about 2:55 a.m. to an overgrown horse pasture near 3600 South and 5200 West, about a half-mile from where the girl lived.

Search warrant affidavits say the boy admitted to detectives that "he had spent time with a female matching the description of [Vijil]" during the time she was missing, and to being in a field with the girl, as well.

jdobner@sltrib.com