Teen Girl Murdered Mom and Her Young Boyfriend, Staged Home Invasion: Cops

a 16-year-old girl calls 911 to report a. violent home invasion that left her. mother and her mother's boyfriend dead. but guess what authorities say it's this. girl who's the actual killer we unpack. the gruesome details and evidence with. juvenile defense attorney Michael gotle. welcome to sidebar presented by law and. crime I'm Jesse. Weber all right I want to lay out this. story for you so it's July 7th out in.

Palm Bay Florida and police respond to a. frantic 911 phone call 16-year-old Julia. egler places a call in 911 and reports a. home invasion so police they race over. she apparently meets them outside where. she said that she and her dog had hidden. in her room when a burglar broke into. their home through the sliding back door. and by the way just to note although. egler is a minor we are going to use her. name because of the nature of the crime. and the charges that she ultimately.

faces but she tells police that when it. seemed the burglar was gone she left her. room and that's when she reportedly. claims she found her mother 38-year-old. heli McCollum and her mother's boyfriend. 22-year-old Matthew Schrock dead but. here is the thing when detectives. entered the home to investigate the. evidence didn't match up to this home. invasion story there were bloody. Footprints from her shoes all over the. house glass from the slider was on top.

of the bodies and the home security. camera video didn't show anybody. breaking in so investigators they. question this 16-year-old and she. eventually allegedly came clean with an. absolutely shocking and disturbing. confession she allegedly admitted to. killing her mother and her mother's. boyfriend and told police exactly how. she did it she apparently said that she. broke into her mother's bedroom stole. her 38 caliber revolver while the couple. were out then she went into the kitchen.

where she grabbed a chef's knife and. waited when the two came home at around. 10:30 p.m. she claimed she greeted them. in the kitchen the gun in her hand the. knife in her pocket as if this was a. horror movie she said welcome home and. then she claimed she shot her mother. multiple times killing her then she. allegedly turns the gun on Matthew and. he apparently pleaded for her to stop he. tried to escape into the bathroom but. police say she shot him again and again. and again until she round out of bullets.

then she started stabbing him with that. kitchen's knife she allegedly admitted. to police that Matthew quote essentially. asked her to take him out of his misery. so she returned to her mother's bedroom. loaded one more round into the handgun. and shot him in the head really sadistic. disturbing stuff we're talking about. right now and in the hour and a half. before Edler called 911 she seemingly. tried to Stage the scene to look like a. Breakin but the cover up really didn't. fool police as I mentioned so what could. be the motive behind what is truly a.

brutal premeditated crime it's kind of. hard to comprehend why a daughter would. kill her own mother but what makes it. even more confusing and disturbing is. the disconnect between that and all of. the Facebook pictures of the two of them. seemingly to be best friends who did. everything together so clearly something. more was going on here and egler told. police what it was she had some. apparently longstanding conflicts with. her mother she disapproved of her mom. dating a man who was 16 years younger. and there had been ently disagreements.

about edler's decision to change genders. and edgler said things had reached a. boiling point well now Julia Edler is. charged with two counts of first deegree. premeditated murder there is a lot to. unravel here so I want to bring in. juvenile defense attorney Michael got Le. to help us make sense of this Michael. thanks so much for coming on um the. sheer brutality of this crime is kind of. hard to Fathom because not only did this. 16-year-old kill her own mom but then. she stabbed her mom's boyfriend almost. to death that's the allegations and then.

finished them off with a bullet now. clearly she has these some of these. issues with her mom and has been. reported with this relationship and. there of course are a lot of teens who. get angry with their parents but. anything like this you've seen before. that would push someone to to do. something like this it's kind of hard to. make sense. of well thanks for having me on um yeah. it isn't it's an unusual situation. because number one she's so young number. two as you said there's a seem seemingly.

loving relationship on Facebook but we. all also know how social media can. appear um you know to to put forward a. relationship especially a family. relationship that doesn't really exist. um it's. also it's a crime where it's um it's. kind of shocking it shocks the. conscience that she would lay in wait. for her mother for the mother's. boyfriend armed with both a gun and a. knife um stab and shoot them.

um and then try to cover it up it's it's. kind of an unusual case it has a lot of. elements to it and I can see some. potential defenses as well you know I've. covered cases before where the. perpetrators so the alleged perpetrator. stage a scene it was a robbery it was. burglary they're the victim in it but. it's something I think on the part of. law enforcement to look at the evidence. the actual physical evidence at the. scene and say something's not adding up. because generally speaking wouldn't you. take the 16-year-old's word what.

happened in this case um you know I. think La law enforcement's uh. responsibility is to obviously take her. word but in a situation like this she's. the most likely suspect she's the person. who's there and the evidence easily and. clearly doesn't add up I mean as a. 16-year-old she didn't even think to. turn off the home recorder you know that. would be the first thing that they're. going to look for in in an allegation of. a home invasion and a burglary is we may. have videographic evidence of who's done. this and when that doesn't add up and.

there were bloody shoe prints of hers. found in or near the crime scene which. you know of course if she found the. bodies that Mak sense that you would. have those but at the same point in time. you're talking about seasoned. investigators who are probably 20 years. on the on the force typically a homicide. um they're they're going to see quite. easily that her initial story doesn't. really meet the scientific evidence. they're seeing at the crime scene are. you surprised she allegedly confessed to. the whole thing and what would be some. ways that a defense attorney can try to.

make sure that alleged confession. doesn't see itself into a courtroom well. you know so confessions are double-edged. sorts um obviously you know if you can't. get rid of the confession um and. confessions have to be knowing. intelligent and voluntary and if you. can't throw out the confession you want. to use it to show mitigation that she. initially realized what she had done was. wrong now I understand mitigation is. typically for sentencing but here it's. not a who done it she confessed that she. did it what you would want to try to do.

is get away from first-degree murder and. see if you could get a lesser offense. whether it's second deegree murder or. third deegree murder or even a. manslaughter so you want to argue while. she planned this while she perpetrated. it she was remorseful and Cooperative. with the police and is deserving of a. break and if you can get that in the. guilt phase then you can get even a. further break perhaps at sentencing hey. I want to take a sidebar from sidebar to. thank one of our incredible sponsors who.

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with. adults. um you know it it really depends I mean. sometimes it depends on what they're. looking for sometimes kids who commit. these crimes want to be known want to be. famous and so they're going to confess. because it gets it out there we've seen. that happen before um also I think when. you murder your mother um even though. you were in the moment. mad I think there's got to be a great. sense of remorse and regret and guilt.

and when law enforcement comes and you. know you're caught you want to tell on. yourself because it's a huge weight off. your. shoulders what about a mental health. defense and I know the facts are quite. Limited at this time you hav't had a. chance to uh really speak to this you. haven't had a chance to speak to this. defendant or understand more of the. circumstances but are there potential. mental health defenses that could work. in her favor given the facts that we. know so. far so my inclination is to say there's. definitely not a sanity defense meaning.

I don't think that she's going to be. able to pull off a I you know I was. insane at the time it's very goal. oriented it was thought out it was. planned it was. premeditated um she stopped in the. middle reloaded the gun so I don't think. we're going to have a sanity defense in. terms of whether or not she has some. kind of diminished capacity here's a. child who was maybe tormented by her. mother's relationship the child is also. and and and I use the word child CU. she's 16 years old the United States. Supreme Court has said that um our minds.

don't mature until the age of. 24 um so I do think that there is a. quasi mental health defense in terms of. um she's transitioning from female to. male um you know this is a person who's. confused who's clearly not getting along. with her mom doesn't appear doesn't. approve of her mother's relationship I. think you can work elements of a mental. health defense into the defense here and.

again it's going to be for mitigation. but I don't know that it's a defense. that's going to get her a free pass I. think for me the thing that's most. Shilling is the welcome home right so. she's allegedly waiting with the gun and. the knife welcome home works both ways. right it can show this kind of. premeditated aspect of it but it also. shows someone maybe not in their right. mind I mean it is just I mentioned it. like a horror movie it's terrifying to. think about it it it's terrifying but I. think if you also look at that um to me.

that's an expression of you're getting. what you deserve and it and it it's kind. of like you've tormented me for so long. you've picked on me for so long um. welcome home here's what you're getting. I want you to see and know and I think. that in that you could have either. post-traumatic stress or acute traumatic. stress based on and again I don't know. her full confession but based on her. confession she wasn't getting along with. the mother and maybe she wanted to go. out with the parents that night maybe.

she wanted to be with her mother that. night and the mother went out with her. boyfriend and then came home you know. it's kind of a welcome home um I see it. as. severe aggravation in her mind I don't. mean aggravation in the sense of an. aggravating Factor but it's severe. torment to this poor child do you think. that she will be tried as an adult for. this crime and I imagine her defense. Council will try every which way to keep. this within juvenile court right so if. you could walk us through what the. differences between both are and what.

you think the likelihood is that this. could be tried in adult Court well. there's criteria in Florida statute for. waving her into the adult system they. have to have a hearing within seven days. um there's due process involved but I. think unquestionably given the nature of. the the offense she's going to be waved. into adult Court um in adult court she. would most likely be facing murder in. the first degree and thankfully the. United States Supreme Court has said. that juveniles in the State of Florida.

um actually throughout the country. juveniles can no longer face mandatory. life sentences so she'd have an. opportunity for um a lesser sentence. than life and if it's longer than 25. years a review at 25 years in the. juvenile system she won't be facing life. and prison she'll be facing some type of. juvenile incarceration some kind of. juvenile detention um I believe up until. the age of uh 21 and and go back to what. you said before do you think that.

there's a um do you think there's a. likelihood that while she's tried for. first-degree murder and it's a capital. felony but you know as a minor she's. going to be exempt from that um do you. think that first-degree murder sticks do. you think a plea deal would be put on. the table do you think it's appropriate. given the circumstances of this case um. you know I think when we talk about. what's appropriate because she's a. juvenile I think that you get a. significant amount of um sympathy from a. jury and you know when we pick juries in.

cases like this we always tell the. juries not to have sympathy but you. can't help but have sympathy for a child. who's going through a hard time with. their parent um a child who is locked. out of the parents room and had to break. into the parents room I mean that shows. a Great Divide inside the home now maybe. that was safe storage of the weapon but. there's an easier way to have safe. storage of a weapon but it really shows. a. compartmentalized. relationship um you know and I think as. a defense attorney that's the kind of.

spin that you want to put on this that. it wasn't Facebook but it was Fakebook. and it was a you know it was a. relationship out there for the community. to see that wasn't real and here was a. child that wasn't accepted at home. wasn't allowed in the mother's bedroom. that was left behind at night I think. there's a lot of meat on the bone for a. defense attorney to really spin that. this was a a a poor child who was. somewhat leave living a pathetic life.

struggling you know with her identity. issues and being ignored by the mother. and all of that when you can paint that. picture I think it's easy to get away. from the planned premeditated murder and. get it more into a second degree murder. which is you know um a depraved mind a. depraved heart and there you know the. world of mitigation is much more open to. you for sentencing and a lesser offense. and by the way my understanding is. unfortunately this is actually the. second incident in Palm Bay in a week in.

which a child shot and killed a parent. is this. becoming I hate to say it is this. becoming more common or is this. something we've seen for years and these. are just unfortunately two incidents. that happened kind of back to. back um I I you know I I'd be guessing. to say if I knew the real answer but we. all know when we see these things. whether it's in the media or social. media it gives young impressionable. Minds an idea oh well if this person did. it maybe I can it maybe I can get away.

with it um you know so so it's hard to. say yet two is not necessarily a trend. um but it is troubling and I think it's. something that we need to address in the. community with kids today and and how. they deal with their issues well we know. that 16-year-old Julia Edler is. currently being held in custody at the. Juvenile Detention Center and there's a. delinquency hearing that's scheduled for. later this month to decide whether she. will be tried as an adult uh Michael. gotle thank you so much for coming on.

breaking down what is a very very. disturbing case for us thanks again for. having me on all right everybody that's. all we have for you right now here on. sidebar thank you so much for joining us. and as always please subscribe on Apple. podcast Spotify YouTube wherever you get. your podcast I'm Jesse Weber meet you. next time. [Music].