Teen pleads guilty to locking woman, 89, in trunk
One of two teenage girls charged with forcing an elderly woman, Margaret. E. Smith, into a car's trunk and caging her there for nearly two days has pleaded guilty to three felony crimes.
Junia McDonald, 15, of Milford pleaded guilty to first-degree carjacking, first-degree kidnapping and second-degree conspiracy to commit a felony, court records show. Prosecutors dropped a robbery charge and two other conspiracy counts as she entered the guilty pleas. A judge deferred sentencing her until September.
McDonald and another young defendant, Jackeline Perez, 17, of Milford, were charged with kidnapping Smith after the now 90-year-old woman gave them a ride from a Milford convenience store around noon on March 18, 2013. Although Smith willingly let them in the car at first, police said, both girls allegedly stole her keys and shoved her into the trunk of her Buick, then commandeered the car for themselves.
Smith was kept in the trunk of her own Buick sedan as, prosecutors said, Perez, McDonald and at least two other teens used the car to travel around western Sussex County for a day and a half before they released her.
Two male defendants already have been found guilty of crimes for their roles in Smith's ordeal. Phillip L. Brewer, 18, of Bridgeville pleaded guilty to several counts early on and agreed to testify against his co-defendants. Another man, Rondaiges Harper, 18, of Bridgeville pleaded not guilty but was convicted of kidnapping, carjacking, and two counts of conspiracy by a jury after a trial this summer. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison on July 25, and is appealing the sentence.
All the defendants, including Brewer and Harper, were younger than 18 when they were charged in 2013, but prosecutors successfully moved to try them all as adults in Superior Court.
Smith, in court proceedings, has testified she got nothing to eat or drink while she was in the trunk. With no opportunities to get out of the dark space, she said, she had no choice but to soil herself, and she was bitterly cold throughout the ordeal. She was found, crawling and disoriented, in a rural graveyard on the morning of March 20. She appeared on the talk show "The View" to discuss her experience, but family members have said the kidnapping took a toll on her mind and body.
Perez, McDonald, Harper and Brewer were arrested later in the day on March 20 when they were stopped, riding in Smith's car, by Delaware State Police.
McDonald's attorney, John Daniello, said his client has been well-behaved while detained at a New Castle County juvenile facility. She will be sentenced Sept. 12 in Superior Court in Georgetown. Perez, meanwhile, is scheduled to go on trial in October.
Contact James Fisher at 983-6772, on Twitter @JamesFisherTNJ or jfisher@delawareonline.com.