LOGAN, Utah (AP) — Two teenage boys charged with shooting a 14-year-old girl in the back of the head and leaving her wounded in a ditch lured her to the spot in a small Utah town with a plan to rob and kill her, prosecutors said. The 16-year-old boys set up a meeting by promising to sell her a knife and originally planned to stab her with knives of their own, according to newly filed charging documents. The teen who brought the gun gave the spent shell casing to the other boy when he asked to keep it "as a memento," the charges state. Eli Lucero | Herald Journal Smithfield Police Chief Travis Allen speaks at a press conference with Cache County Attorney James S Eli Lucero | Herald Journal Cache County Attorney James Swink, speaks at a press conference with Jill Parker, of the Cache Count Investigators search for evidence where a missing girl was found in an irrigation ditch in Smithfield on Friday. A spokeswoman for Deserae's family said the girl remained in a medically induced coma at Primary Children's Hospital in the "fight of her life right now." When she failed to arrive, Deserae was reported as overdue and missing to police about 6:30 p.m. She was found hours later about 12:45 a.m. Friday in a dry canal east of Sky View High School by two family friends who were out looking for her. The two boys are charged in 1st District Juvenile Court with attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony; and four counts of obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony. But records collected from one of the boy's phones showed he had been in contact with Deserae prior to her disappearance, the charges state. One boy eventually told police they took Deserae's cellphone, backpack, iPod and cash because of "greed," the charges state.
– Two teenage boys charged with shooting a 14-year-old girl in the back of the head and leaving her wounded in a ditch lured her to the spot in a small Utah town with a plan to rob and kill her, prosecutors said. The 16-year-old boys set up a meeting by promising to sell Deserae Turner a knife, reports KSL. They originally planned to stab her with knives of their own, according to newly filed charging documents. After they arrived, one boy decided instead to use a gun he had brought and shot Deserae, prosecutors said Tuesday. They took $55 from her purse, tossed her backpack in a trash bin, and destroyed her cellphone and iPod, prosecutors wrote. Deserae is in critical condition in a medically induced coma, reports the AP. One teen told police that greed made them do it, investigators said. Deserae was reported missing Thursday evening when she didn't return home from school and was found around 12:45am Friday in the dry canal in Smithfield. "She is in the fight of her life right now," says a rep for her family. The teen who brought the gun gave the spent shell casing to the other boy when he asked to keep it "as a memento," the charges state. Officers later found it displayed on his bedroom windowsill. Investigators say text messages between the boys indicate they planned the robbery and shooting together, the Salt Lake Tribune reports, and footprints in the canal allegedly match the shoes the boys were wearing. KSL reports, per charging documents, that one teen "provided a written apology to [Deserae's] family in which he stated, 'I'm so so so sorry.'" The boys face attempted aggravated murder charges, among others.