Pasquale Homicide Prosecutors Want Case Moved to Adult Court

After weeks of little public movement in the Autumn Pasquale murder case, a move to try the two teen defendants as adults could come soon.

The Camden County Prosecutor’s Office wants to try the two teens as adults and is pursuing a waiver to transfer the case out of juvenile court, the South Jersey Times reports.

Pasquale, 12, was killed in October 2012. The Clayton community launched a massive search for her when she was reported missing after leaving home to ride her bike. Her body was found in a recycling bin days later.

Two teen brothers, neighbors of Pasquale, are charged with strangling her and dumping her body. Their case was sent to juvenile court and proceedings closed to the media, despite early efforts to charge them as adults.

The case added another wrinkle when Pasquale’s family—critical from the start of the law enforcement operation to find Autumn—threatened to take the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office to court in a civil lawsuit. That prompted the case to change hands to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, which is now handling the prosecution.

The case will still take place in Gloucester County.

Separate from the legal proceedings, Pasquale’s death and the case against the brothers reemerged on social media in the past week. Users tried to make comparisons to this case and the George Zimmerman murder trial in Florida.

Commenters complained that not every case of a teen killed gets the attention that Trayvon Martin’s death received, nor is race highlighted in the Pasquale coverage.

“What about justice for Autumn Pasquale? A young girl that was murdered & stuffed in a trash can for her BIKE?!” one tweet read after the Zimmerman verdict was announced.

Other tweets and comments take on a racist tone, such as one saying Pasquale was “murdered by diversity.”

Social media outrage over Pasquale’s death is not new to the case. Immediately after her body was found and the defendants arrested, people took to Twitter to identify the brothers, post their fury and, in some cases, advocate violence against the defendants.