A 15-year-old is being held on a $2 million bond in connection with the alleged rape of a 91-year-old Mississippi woman with dementia.
“Humphreys County Jail officials confirm 15- year old Tydarius Wade is in custody still this morning after being accused of stabbing, beating, and raping the elderly woman in her Isola home,” Delta News reported Friday.
The suspect faces charges of rape, breaking and entering, and attempted murder, the outlet noted.
A caregiver reportedly found the victim and also discovered a bloody knife under a couch inside her home, WLOX reported.
“DNA tests from the Mississippi State Crime Lab would uncover blood on it from both the victim and from Wade,” the article stated, adding that a shirt taken from the suspect had the woman’s blood DNA on it.
However, attorney Tanisha Gates questioned the prosecution in court Thursday about the evidence gathering and said she believed her client was “given a disservice.”
“I think that disservice was the result of poor law enforcement work and investigation,” she commented.
Despite her claims, Justice Court Judge Shirley Cummings found there was sufficient evidence to send Wade’s case to a grand jury and said “perpetrating a crime on such a fragile victim showed blatant disregard for life.”
Wade was charged as an adult and his juvenile record sealed, according to WLOX.
Isola resident Rodney King Taylor told reporters he knows the victim and said she never bothered anyone.
“That old lady, she don’t bother nobody, she’s friendly,” Taylor recalled. “She’ll talk to anybody. Anybody walks by, she says, ‘Hey, how you doing? Have a good day, God bless you.'”
Outside the courtroom on Thursday, Gates expressed disagreement with her client’s $2 million bond.
“We think it’s excessive,” she commented. “We have a long road ahead, but we’re going to travel that with grace and dignity.”
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