A 12-year-old girl has been charged with murder and tampering with evidence after allegedly killing an 8-year-old.

The girl has not been publicly named due to her age, and has been charged after the emergence of disturbing surveillance footage.

In the video, the 12-year-old can allegedly be seen suffocating her 8-year-old cousin in a bunk bed that the pair were sharing at their grandmother’s home in Tennessee, according to police.

Eight-year-old Demeria Hollingsworth had been spending the summer with her cousin at her grandmother’s house in Humbodlt, Tennessee.

Demeria’s distraught mom, Rayana Smith, paid tribute to her daughter, saying she was experiencing ‘unbearable’ pain.

Speaking to WREG-TV, she said: “Last time I seen my baby, she was smiling, giving me kisses, telling me she will see me when it’s time for her to come back home.

“She’s never coming back home.”

Demeria had been staying at her grandmother’s. (GoFundMe)

Paying tribute to her daughter, Smith added: “She liked to read books, go swimming, play outside, ride her bike every day, play with the kids in the neighborhood, play with my friends kids. My baby was sweet.”

The grieving mom has also made a post on GoFundMe to help cover her daughter’s funeral expenses.

In the post, she wrote: “I just lost my baby, the most beautiful child of God on Monday, July 15th. The pain I’m feeling is unbearable. I have to now live life without her in this crazy world.”

She went on to describe how she is trying to remain strong for her other child, writing: “But I have another child who’s depending on me, and I have to be strong for my baby because she lost her big sister also.

“I never imagined anything like this would happen and now find myself trying to fund a funeral.”

Demeria’s mom paid tribute to her. (Facebook)

Prosecutor Frederick Agee is working with the attorney general’s office in West Tennessee, and has confirmed that the office is planning to petition Juvenile Judge Mark Johnson to transfer the case to the Circuit Court.

This would mean that the defendant would be tried as an adult.

Agee argued that this was justified due to the extreme nature of the case.

In a statement which was posted to social media, Agee wrote: “I consider this to be one of the most disturbing, violent acts committed by either an adult or juvenile that my office has prosecuted.”

Footage of the incident appears to show the alleged killer smothering the victim with bedclothes, before cleaning up the scene and repositioning the body.

The case continues.

A father has been accused of drugging his 12-year-old daughter’s friends’ smoothies while they were over for a sleepover.

The Oregon dad had his daughter’s three mates round at his Lake Oswego home on August 26 of last year.

What you would expect to be a fun and enjoyable evening for the young girls took an unexpected and unfortunate turn.

57-year-old Michael Meyden has been accused of spiking the three girls with a drug in their smoothies.

He turned himself into authorities last week but pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces, according to the Lake Oswego Police Department. The charges include causing another person to ingest a controlled substance.

Getty Stock Image

According to court documents, Meyden is accused of lacing mango smoothies with benzodiazepine, a drug usually used to treat insomnia and panic attacks. He then allegedly served the drinks to his daughter’s friends.

Police have not publicly speculated on the potential motive.

Meyden’s attorney, Mark Cogan, has said he had not seen evidence in the case.

“Mr. Meyden is presumed innocent and we hope that people will reserve judgment until all of the facts and circumstances are known,” Cogan said.

Police have also said that during the night the group of girls watched movies and Meyden prepared the smoothies and allegedly insisted that they drink them.

Authorities have alleged that the drinks had ‘tiny white chunks throughout and sprinkled on top’.

Getty Stock Image

Describing the impact the drink had, one of the girl told police she felt ‘woozy, hot and clumsy’ and after drinking the smoothie blacked out, falling into a ‘thick, deep sleep’.

Meyden is also accused of making repeated trips down to the basement where the girls slept and checking to see if they were asleep, at one point even waving his hand in front of one of the girl’s faces to see if she was asleep.

One of the 12-year-old girls ended up texting her mother just before 2 am, pleading for her to come pick her up as she felt unsafe.

She wrote: “Mom please pick me up and say I had a family emergency. I don’t feel safe. I might not respond but please come get me (crying emoji), Please. Please pick up. Please. PLEASE!!”

She then contacted a family friend who came to pick her up and alerted her parents, who were asleep.

UNILAD has contacted for Lake Oswego Police Department further comment.

Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.

The parents of a 10-year-old boy who committed suicide have revealed the nickname bullies allegedly called their son before his death.

Samuel Teusch – known as Sammy – was a Greenfield-Central Intermediate School fourth-grade student who died on May 5, 2024.

The young boy’s 13-year-old brother found him unresponsive in his bedroom that morning, the family said.

Sammy’s parents, Samuel and Nichole Teusch, claim that he was being emotionally and physically bullied at the Indiana school and that he was being ‘exasperated’ by the lack of action the school was taking.

Sammy Teusch died in May this year (Stillinger Family Funeral Home)

His father told 13News that kids ‘were making fun of him for his glasses and in the beginning they went on to make fun of his teeth’.

“He was beat up on the […] school bus and the kid broke his glasses and everything,” the dad claimed.

The father added to FOX 59: “‘How could God take my kid from here?’ Of course that was going through my head. God didn’t take my kid; hate did.”

While the dad called for ‘action’ and ‘accountability’, the police investigation found that there was ‘no known cause’ for Sammy to have taken his life, despite his parents’ claims of bullying.

In June, the Greenfield Police Department confirmed ‘there will be no criminal charges filed with the Hancock County Prosecutor’.

At the time, Police Chief Brian Hartman said: “At the very beginning, everybody started saying this was bullying, this was a result of bullying, and I say this with a heavy heart, unfortunately, we do not know the cause of this.

Sammy’s parents filed a lawsuit (YouTube/WTHR)

“There was no note or no text messages. Sammy didn’t say why he felt he had to do this.”

However, investigations did find that Sammy had been targeted both inside and outside of the school, and his parents confirmed that they had made at least 20 reports of bullying towards their son prior to his death.

Samuel and Nichole have since filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Greenfield-Central Community School Corporation and Greenfield-Central Community School Corporation Board of Trustees, per WRTV.

In the suit, they claim that there was ‘callous indifference’ towards their son’s bullying as well as being ‘repeatedly informed about the bullying of Sammy Teusch (‘Sammy’) by students under the District’s supervision, and yet did nothing to address it’.

It continues: “As a direct and proximate result of the District’s and these individuals’ gross dereliction of arguably their most important duty, Sammy took his own life on May 5, 2024.”

The suit went on to allege that bullies would call Sammy ‘Dahmer’, in reference to the US serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

Sammy’s parents say he was called ‘Dahmer’ (YouTube/ WTHR)

However, when a teacher was made aware of this, the suit alleges that ‘her only response was that, in her opinion, Sammy did somewhat resemble Jeffrey Dahmer’.

The suit also claims that Sammy began acting out in class as ‘a cry for help’ but was reprimanded.

While it notes that the principal began to allow Sammy to have his lunch in their office after the ‘Dahmer’ nickname was uncovered, ‘it is unknown whether [the principal] took any disciplinary actions towards the bullies, or informed their parents’.

Then, according to the lawsuit, when he entered the fourth grade, it only got worse.

The suit claims: “During breakfast period, Sammy was chased throughout the school, and would attempt to hide in a bathroom stall, often refusing to come out.”

Chief Hartman agreed that Sammy was having ‘some rough times at school from other kids’ as police ‘have statements and facts to back that up’, but there were also ‘things that happened outside of school’.

The Chief said that there has ‘probably been an accumulation of things having happened in this child’s life that led up to that traumatic decision he made that day’.

UNILAD has contacted the Greenfield-Central Community School and Greenfield Police Department for comment.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741

If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact The Compassionate Friends on (877) 969-0010.

Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing

The former partner of an elementary school teacher accused of having an inappropriate relationship with an 11-year-old is said to still be in touch with his one-time fiancé.

Madison Bergmann resigned from her job at River Crest Elementary School in Hudson, Wisconsin in May, after charges against her came to light earlier that month.

Bergmann, who was 24 at the time, was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a fifth-grade student, leading to charges of first-degree child sexual assault with a child under 13.

The 11-year-old’s mom became aware of the alleged relationship after she caught her son on the phone with Bergmann. She took his phone and looked at his messages, where she found conversations between the pair.

Police officers were made aware after being called to the school and presented with screenshots of the text conversations, which discussed encounters between the student and the teacher.

The meetings allegedly occurred inside the classroom during lunch or after school.

Madison Bergmann kept a folder with letters between the pair. (KARE 11)

Officers also found a folder in Bergmann’s backpack which had the victim’s name on it, and which contained handwritten notes. Many of the correspondence allegedly talked about the student and teacher kissing and ‘making out’ with each other.

A complaint cited by The New York Post quoted the notes in which the teacher allegedly told the student she ‘loves him’ and ‘wants to kiss him’.

In another letter, Bergmann allegedly wrote: “One of my cousins is in the 5th grade and I can’t imagine a man talking to her how we talk.

“I know we have a special relationship and I do love you more than anyone in the world but I have to be the adult here and stop.”

After handing in her resignation, Bergmann is said to have taken up residence at her grandparent’s farm, according to friends who spoke to The Post.

Police saw alleged text messages between the pair. (Getty Stock Photo)

She was engaged when she was hit with the charges, but the couple called off the wedding that was set to be held on 27 July after the allegations came to light.

However, friends claims the former couple are still in touch.

“They still talk, as far as I know,” one friend said, adding: “But obviously, everything has changed. He was betrayed in a really big way, but he was madly in love, and you can’t just turn that off.”

The friend went on to say Bergmann seems ’embarrassed’ to face her friends.

“She’s ghosted everyone, which is kind of to be expected,” they claimed.

Bergmann is free on a $25,000 bond and is set to appear in court next month as part of the ongoing case.

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.