Boy, 14, arrested for raping and suffocating neighbor, 11, in her bed after her brothers threw a rowdy party

McKenzie Mae Sessoms was found raped and murdered at her home in North Carolina on September 6

Police arrested a teenage boy, identified by his family as Antonio Try Jones, this week

A family friend says Jones doesn't have the mental capacity to have committed the crime

At the time of McKenzie's murder, Jones was living within sight of the girl's house

Her father reportedly found her body when he went to wake her for school the day after a party was held at the property by her two adult brothers



A rural North Carolina community that was horrified last year when an 11-year-old girl was raped and murdered in her own bed has been shocked again - this time after a neighbor boy, aged just 14, was arrested and charged with the crime.

McKenzie Mae Sessoms, a fifth grader from Clinton, North Carolina, was found suffocated with a pillow last September 6 - the morning after her adult brothers threw a 'rowdy gathering' at the family home.



On Wednesday, police announced the arrest of a young teenage boy, who is charged with first-degree rape and murder. Officials did not release his name, but family and neighbors identified him as Antonio Trey Jones. He turned 15 on Thursday.



Murdered: McKenzie Sessoms, 11, was found raped and suffocated in her bed last September

The North Carolina fifth grader loved to ride horses and just wanted to do 'little girl things,' her grandmother said

At the time of the murder, Jones was living with his grandfather Howard Jones in a house off a dirt road - just feet from McKenzie's home, Mr Jones told WTVD-TV.



'If he done it, I'm glad they got him. That's all I can say,' Mr Jones said.



Family members identified Antonio Trey Jones, 14, as the suspect in the crime

An autopsy report says that McKenzie was found wedged against the pillow that was used to suffocate her. Her pants were rolled down and a quilt was covering her body.

According to WBTW, her father found her when he went to wake her for school the next day. It is believed she lived in the home alone with her father and brothers.



Authorities said they arrested the suspect after using DNA evidence to match him to the crime.

Mr Jones said his grandson Antonio had moved away to live with his mother.



McKenzie's family said Antonio was banned from the girl's home after he made 'vulgar' comments to her, WTVD reports.

However, a Jones family friend told the TV station that the boy is mentally disabled, suffers epilepsy and is incapable of such violence. He is also in special education.



'He's just as sweet as he can be,' Rhonda Wright said. 'Trey is being accused of terrible, terrible things that I just don't see him mentally capable of doing at all.'

'He told his mother yesterday they confused him,' she added. 'He was very confused. He said they turned some things around that he said.'



McKenzie's family says she was focused on being a little girl.



'She loved riding horses, riding four-wheelers, just hanging with her friends,' grandmother Cathy Starke told the TV station.

'She had her whole life planned. I don't know what made him do it, but I hope that by him doing it, he realizes that he's really messed up his life as well as taking McKenzie away from us.'

'Thank God they've done their job, and they've done it well,' she said of the police investigation. 'Now just keep us in your prayers.'













