Chilling details emerge in case of girl accused of beating her grandma to death in South Florida
MIAMI - The day that Vladimir Koval's mother was murdered, he had taken away his daughter's cell phone because of her "behavioral issues," according to the 14-year-old's arrest report.
He left the teen and the elderly woman at an apartment in Lauderdale Lakes, a city about 30 miles north of Miami. Police say that when the man returned home, his mother showed signs of having been beaten to death.
At Broward Criminal Court on Wednesday, the 14-year-old girl, who CBS News Miami is not identifying because of her age, covered her face and looked up as her immigration status was discussed in court.
"If she's not an American citizen, someone needs to notify the Ukrainian consulate," said Judge Elijah Williams, while addressing the girl's defense attorney.
The father's 911 call
What was not discussed in court is what the arrest form reveals, a lot of it from the father of the teenager who called 911.
According to the teen's arrest affidavit, the man explained to police that his daughter had recently moved to the U.S. from Ukraine and that she "had been giving him behavioral issues, which he believed are from the war she witnessed in Ukraine and being separated from her mother."
As a result, he took her cell phone away from her on May 22 as a way to discipline her, the report said.
"Grandmother and daughter stayed at the apartment while he went to see a friend. When he came back at 12.30 a.m. (May 23rd), he found his mother lying on the floor with bruises all over her body," the arrest affidavit detailed.
Based on the investigation, "it was determined that the teenager physically struck the victim multiple times. Due to the minor striking the grandmother, she was killed," read the Broward Sheriff's Office arrest form.
The teenager remains at a South Florida Juvenile Detention Center. She faces charges of second-degree murder.
Her next hearing is scheduled for June 12.
