A 12-year-old Nevada girl was arrested on suspicion of stabbing her father following an altercation just days after Christmas.
Police in North Las Vegas, Nev., received a call on the evening of Dec. 27, from a relative of the girl, who believed her father was dead in the apartment where the two lived.
The caller said the girl suspected that someone might have broken into the home.
Police arrived and declared 55-year-old James Waldie, the girl’s father, deceased.
During their investigation, detectives discovered that police had responded multiple times to the apartment previously in the month of December, with the girl being accused of battering her father, leaving him with visible injuries, and running away multiple times, including the day of the killing.
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After allegedly providing conflicting accounts of the events on Dec. 27, investigators say she eventually confessed to stabbing her father following a disagreement between them.
The girl was arrested and booked into the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center on a charge of murder with the use of a deadly weapon.
The loss has “devastated the family and friends of James, knowing that he will never again crack a joke or put on a smile on someone else’s face,” Waldie’s family members wrote in a GoFundMe fundraising appeal, seeking donations for funeral expenses and “keepsake necklaces for his ashes.”
Waldie was a father to four daughters, two stepdaughters, one son, and two stepsons, as well as a grandfather to two, per his obituary.
“James’s memory will forever be enshrined in the hearts of his family, friends, and all those whose lives were touched by his kindness,” reads the obituary.
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