BALTIMORE, Md. (WSVN) — A teenage boy is being charged as an adult for the rape and murder of an elderly woman in Maryland.
Tyrone Harvin, 14, is being held without bail in the death of 83-year-old Dorothy Neal, and faces charges of first-degree murder, first-degree rape and various sex offense and assault charges.
Neighbors called Baltimore Police on August 29 for a welfare check on Neal after becoming concerned that they hadn’t heard from her.
Neal was found unresponsive in her home, and died the next day in the hospital. Police said she died of blunt force trauma, noting she had been both physically and sexually assaulted.
“Basically, she was physically beaten to death,” Baltimore Police media relations chief T.J. Smith said.
Investigators said physical evidence found in Neal’s home linked Harvin to the crime.
Smith said a network of neighbors often helped Neal, and police believe it’s possible Harvin may have assisted his victim with chores.
“I was making sure it wasn’t a typo, that he was in fact 14 and just recently had a birthday [in August],” Smith said.
According to police, Harvin is not being charged as a juvenile because the age of 14 is the earliest a suspect can be charged as an adult in cases of murder or rape. Smith says the adult charge is automatic, though it is possible the case could be reverted back to the juvenile system.
“Seventy year difference between the victim and suspect in this, it’s really something that’s unheard of,” Smith said. “I don’t think any of us were thinking a 14-year-old could be capable of this.”
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