Miami County Girl Appears in Court

The Miami Circuit Court conducted a closed hearing today for a 12-year-old Southern Miami County girl who faces juvenile charges of arson and the attempted murder of her mother. The judge ordered authorities to continue holding the girl at a juvenile detention center in Kokomo until a fact-finding hearing December 20. In the juvenile justice system, a fact-finding hearing is analogous to a trial. The girl's attorney described her today as "very upset." Earlier this week, the girl allegedly set her mother's bed on fire as her mother slept and then put her younger siblings in her mother's car and drove away.