Hearing to determine if teen will be tried as adult in Bedford teen murder

A judge will decide next week whether a 16-year-old accused in the murder and dumping of a Bedford girl will be tried in a juvenile or adult court.

The body of Kaytlynn Cargill was found in an Arlington landfill in June two days after she went missing. Jordin Roache was arrested for the murder in a drug deal gone bad, but his lawyers are expected to challenge much of what police allege happened.

"Parents lost their child, a 14-year-old child, everything in the affidavit, I agree it's a horrible case for the victim and for our community,” said Roache’s attorney Frank Adler.

Friday was the first time Adler has talked about the case. He didn't go into specifics, but does take issue with parts of the arrest warrant.

“There are facts in that affidavit that my client strongly disputes,” Adler said. “There's a possibility there might be other parities that we don't know about yet, yes.”

A police affidavit revealed Cargill was beaten with a hammer in a nearby apartment and described a violent scene, with a detective "reporting that she found Cargill's DNA on a hammer... swab from the south hallway door frame, and bathtub, and swabs from the side of the patio ledge which were a match to Cargill."

Adler will lay out his case at the hearing next week.

Trent Loftin isn't associated with the case but is a former juvenile court prosecutor for Tarrant County.

"There are certain crimes, certain things in the State of Texas and this country that people say you don't deserve to be in here, don't deserve to get these benefits. If you're a big boy committing these crimes, we're going to put you in the big boy jail system and let you go through that system, that's the mindset of prosecutors in this case,” Loftin said.

Loftin said prosecutors typically call on the police detective to tell all they know about the crime. The defense will likely call on witnesses who can shed other light on the allegations and people who know roache.

"There could be extenuating factors, could be extenuating factors on the facts of the case, there could be physiological problems, could be something when the juvenile was a child or even younger that that would be a factor,” Loftin said.

The hearing is set for Dec. 20.