CARLSBAD, California (KGTV) – The 17-year-old’s grandmother, who is accused of stabbing Lisa Thorborg on a Carlsbad hiking trail in November, does not believe her nephew could have committed the crime.
Christie Hernandez said she spoke with her nephew, Haloa Beaudet, right after Tuesday’s virtual hearing, in which new surveillance images were revealed, and the judge allowed the teenager’s name to be released. The images in front of him were ordered to remain in public.
“[He said] ‘I’m strong. I will be positive. You and Dad [don’t need to] worry. Tell everyone in the family that I’m fine and that I’ll be home soon, “Hernandez told ABC 10News.
IN CONNECTION: Judge releases teenager Carlsbad’s murder suspect’s name, new surveillance images
On Wednesday, the DA Bureau confirmed that it had filed a motion to request that the teen be tried as an adult, but that it would take almost a year for a hearing to be held in which a judge would make a decision.
Prosecutors said this week that a surveillance camera caught Beaudet running barefoot on the street, away from the runway, minutes after Thorborg was believed to have been killed.
Other images show him on the trail in the days after the murder. Detectives said her DNA was found on the victim’s shorts and a pair of sandals were found next to her body. His lawyers claim it is a free spirit who has often left his sandals behind and Thorborg could have lifted them, so his DNA came to her.
“He wouldn’t have done that. It’s like stabbing me in the throat,” Hernandez added.
Hernandez said he lived with her and attended online school for the past two months after moving to San Diego, Hawaii. She described him as a kind young man, incapable of violence.
“We go to the store and he helps the little old women choose which melons are good and which are the sweetest grapes and which keep the doors open. So this discourages me,” she said. “They got the person wrong. The killer is still there.”
The teenager’s lawyers said that no weapons were found and that he had no injuries or signs of fighting on his body.