Cheerleader, 13, Found Dead in Woods After Vanishing from Home Overnight

Authorities in Tennessee are investigating the killing of a 13-year-old cheerleader who was found on a dirt road in October. 

Savannah Copeland was found slain on Oct. 22 on a dirt walking trail in Knox County, Tenn., the local sheriff’s office said in a statement at the time. She was not named in the statement, but was identified in a GoFundMe set up by her family, her school’s cheerleading team, an online obituary and several news outlets that spoke with her family.  

Police arrested 15-year-old Malakiah Lamar Harris in connection with her death, and charged him with second-degree murder, per the statement. 

Harris appeared in court this week as prosecutors announced they plan to try him as an adult, per 6 News and 10 News. A judge has set Jan. 14 as the date for that hearing, per 6 News.

The victim’s father, Michael Copeland, told 8 WVLT that Savannah had been missing for several hours before her body was found. He had grown concerned when she reportedly disappeared from her house overnight and was not in contact with him, he said.

He then tracked her using cell phone information and found her body in the woods, per the outlet. 

A petition released by a Knox County court on Oct. 24 alleges Harris met Savannah around midnight on Oct. 22 when he stabbed her multiple times using a pocketknife, per 6 News and 10 News. He then allegedly left the scene without notifying anyone, per the petition. 

It wasn’t immediately clear how the two might have known each other.

“I think it was a lack of compassion and a lack of empathy that drove the hand that took my daughter’s life,” Michael told 8 WVLT. He says he wants the juvenile suspect to be tried as an adult. 

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Savannah, a cheerleader with Powell MAC Cheerleading, is now being mourned by friends and family.

She was a talented student who loved scary movies and excelled in gymnastics, karate and cheerleading, part of her obituary reads. She aspired to study forensic anthropology in college. 

“Her beautiful smile lit up the room,” read another part of the obituary. Her father described her to 8 WVLT as a teen with “spunkiness, eagerness, and kind of a go getter attitude.” 

PEOPLE was not able to immediately reach Harris’ attorney.