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15-year-old indicted for raping, killing his aunt in Monroe County

Normally 15-year-old suspects are not identified, but because he’s been charged with a felony, he will be tried as an adult.

JACKSON, Ga. — A Monroe County grand jury has indicted a 15-year-old accused of murdering and raping his aunt over the summer.

According to an indictment filed in Monroe County Superior Court earlier in December, Dante Krieger is formally charged with five counts: malice murder, felony murder, rape, aggravated sodomy, and theft by taking.

Those five charges stem from a graphic incident that happened on July 14, in which Krieger allegedly raped and sodomized his aunt, Tryeflue O’Neal, before fatally shooting her and stealing her car.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office found O’Neal’s body covered with leaves and two black hoodies in a shallow grave that same day outside her Tingle Road home during a welfare check after receiving a tip from the Newton County Sheriff’s Office – the county where Krieger’s foster family lived.

The tip to Newton County came from the Chester County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina, where Krieger was arrested after allegedly stealing his aunt’s car and driving up there.

His ex-girlfriend is named in the search warrant affadavit, as Krieger reportedly called her and told her that he shot and killed 'Trye.' 

The warrant says the ex-girlfriend told him to turn himself in, and then called police.

O'Neal was famous on her street for the German shepherds she bred.

"She had dogs and they were beautiful dogs and she bred them. I got one from her and I can't see why anybody would hurt her," her neighbor Franklin Scott told 13WMAZ.

Scott said O'Neal told him that she didn't like living on her own in the house deep in the woods.

"She told me that she was by herself and scared and alone, and I said, 'I understand. If you ever need anything, call me,' and gave her my number and, unfortunately, she didn't call me," he said.

Normally 15-year-old suspects are not identified, but because he’s been charged with a felony, he will be tried as an adult.

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Teen charged with killing Monroe County woman appears in court

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