12-year-old girl charged with trying to poison 4-year-old stepbrother

OAK GROVE, Ky. -- Officials say a 12-year-old Kentucky girl tried to kill her 4-year-old stepbrother because she believed her mother loved the boy more.

News outlets report that a Christian County sheriff's report said the girl was charged with murder Wednesday in Oak Grove. The report said the mother was looking through the girl's Skype messages and saw that she told someone in Texas that she was going to use Mr. Clean to get rid of her younger stepbrother.

"Obviously, this is not something that's normal," Captain Chris Miller, of the Christian County Sheriff's Office, said to WTVF-TV. "It's quite normal for brothers and sisters to fight, brothers and sisters to disagree. This is kind of above the normal for what we would expect out of that age."

When the boy became sick, the mother talked to her daughter, who admitted to trying to poison the victim.

She told her mother it was because she felt her mother loved him more.

"We're talking about a 12-year-old here, so we are looking into the mind of a 12-year-old, what bothers her and what makes her tick. This is obviously something that bothered her," Captain Miller said.

Deputies asked to talk to the daughter in the mother's presence, and when asked why she had poisoned the boy, she said "it was because he was annoying her," according to police reports.

The juvenile was arrested and charged with murder.

"She's facing a murder charge because Kentucky does not have an attempted murder charge there. Depending on the outcome of her medical evaluation, that murder charge could be reduced to something else with the same penalty," Captain Miller said.

The girl was taken to a hospital for evaluation.