Leila Fowler 12-Year-Old Brother Arrested For Stabbing Murder, Town Reacts

Leila Fowler’s 12-year-old brother was arrested Saturday evening in Valley Springs, CA in connection with the brutal stabbing death of his 8-year-old little sister. The small town of around 7,400 people is still reeling from the news, but a lot of residents are now coming forward to admit that they suspected the boy all along.

Because the boy is a juvenile, Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department won’t release his name, but there’s no real secret who he is. Local news station KCRA 3 has said that multiple friends and family sources have named the boy, and you can get that detail from KCRA if for some reason you really need to know.

In the wake of the killing, the boy appeared at Leila Fowler’s vigil and had then returned to school.

He had claimed that a man broke in and stabbed his sister to death while the two were left alone so his parents could attend a Little League game. According to KCRA, his story of a man with long, gray hair was at first backed up by a neighbor who claimed to have seen someone fleeing the Fowler home.

Her story was discredited, she admitted it wasn’t true, and police investigators have acknowledged that there was no evidence of any break-in.

Now some people are saying that they were suspicious all along. Isn’t it always a long-haired hippie type that gets the blame in these confabulations?

One local, Fian Ngo, told The Los Angeles Times: “The story didn’t make sense — a long-haired stranger, the dogs didn’t bark.”

Another local, Fidel Taylor, agreed, telling LAT that he was becoming angry at law enforcement for the scare stories: “I was like, ‘Come on — do you really think there’s a knife-wielding stranger out there, or are you keeping our kids scared to death for no reason?”

Not wanting his own children to be panicked, he said he told them that he was reasonably sure it was the brother and that they were not at risk.

The boy’s mother denied that her child was at fault, saying that he could never hurt his sister. Police, however, have hinted that the killer “targeted” the little girl.

There are still plenty of unanswered questions about why or if a 12-year-old boy would commit the brutal stabbing slaying of little Leila Fowler.

[bloody knife photo by Fer Gregory via Shutterstock]