Photo: St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit / Facebook
She was six months pregnant.
By Sarah Gangraw — Written on Dec 13, 2018
An Indiana teen was charged with murder after he allegedly stabbed a pregnant cheerleader to death for not telling him she was pregnant soon enough, preventing abortion from being an option.
In the latest update, 16-year-old Aaron Trejo was formally charged as an adult Monday with one count of murder and one count of feticide in the death of 17-year-old Breana Rouhselang, according to charging documents.
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Rouhselang's body was found in a dumpster Pasquale Rulli's Restaurant in Mishawaka Sunday.
She was six months pregnant with the high school football player's child. The pair, who both attended Mishawaka High School, were arguing about the pregnancy when Trejo said he stabbed Rouhselang in the heart.
Trejo initially denied having seen Rouhselang the night she disappeared but later confessed to killing her.
"I took action...I took her life," he told Detective Gery Mullins, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Trejo became angry when Rauselang told him she had waited too long to get an abortion and was not able to get the procedure, so he killed her.
"Aaron explained that he stabbed Breana in the heart with a knife he brought from home," Mullins wrote in his police report. "Aaron chose to use a knife because he thought it would kill Breana quickly. Aaron stated that he put the black plastic bag over Breana, which he had brought from home for that purpose."
Mullins added that Trejo had thought about murdering the pregnant teen for a week and finally decided to commit the crime. After stabbing Rouhselang to death, he dumped her body in a dumpster and threw her knife and cell phone "as far out into the river as he could," the affidavit reads.
"Aaron Trejo said that he had been planning and thinking about killing Breana and the baby for about a week and had not told anybody," he wrote.
Rouhselang was reported missing by her mother around 4:30 a.m. Sunday. She had gone out to meet Trejo at 11 p.m. Saturday and never returned home. Her mother awoke around 1 a.m. Sunday and realized Rouhselang wasn't home so she went out to look for her, according to court documents.
She drove a few blocks to Trejo's residence, where he told her he planned to meet up with Rouhselang in a nearby alley but she never showed up. Concerned, Rouhselang' mother called the police. Trejo told police the same story he told his girlfriend's mom, according to the affidavit.
Mishawaka police searched the alley and found glasses and a stocking cap that Rouhselang's mother had described. They also found blood, which led them to the teen's body in a dumpster just a block away from her home.
An autopsy confirmed Rouhselang died from multiple stab wounds and that her scarf had been tied so tightly around her neck that strangulation was occurring before she died, according to charging documents.
Trejo was denied bail on Tuesday. He is scheduled to appear in court again on Dec. 19.
Although he is being tried as an adult, he cannot receive the death penalty due to his age.
Sarah Gangraw writes about all things news, entertainment and crime. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.