Teen suspect arrested after cheerleader found dead in woods

A Tennessee cheerleader, 13, was allegedly stabbed to death by a 15-year-old with a pocket knife and left alongside a dirt road. Now, prosecutors hope to try him as an adult in court.

Savannah Copeland met with the 15-year-old around midnight Oct. 22, when he allegedly attacked her and fled, according to a petition released by Knox County court Oct. 24. It is unclear how the two teens might have known each other. 

Michael Copeland, the victim’s father, told 8WVLT his daughter had been missing in Powell for several hours before he tracked her using her cellphone information and found her body.

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The 15-year-old was arrested soon after the stabbing and charged with second-degree murder, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said. 

A judge allowed the release of the teen’s name despite his age two days later and scheduled a Jan. 14 hearing on whether the juvenile suspect should be tried as an adult, 6 News reported. Fox News Digital is not naming the suspect until it is determined if he will be charged as an adult.  

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Fox News Digital could not reach the suspect’s attorney for comment at press time.

Copeland was not named in the department’s statement, but she was identified in a GoFundMe set up by her family, an online obituary, her cheerleading team and several news outlets that spoke with her family.

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“I think it was a lack of compassion and a lack of empathy that drove the hand that took my daughter’s life,” the victim’s father told 8 WVLT. 

Copeland, a cheerleader with Powell Mac Cheerleading, was a talented student who also excelled in karate and gymnastics, her family wrote in her obituary. Her father told 8WVLT the teen had “spunkiness, eagerness and … a go-getter attitude.”