Hearings begin on motion to try teen as adult in grandmother’s slaying; coroner counted 34 wounds in stabbing death

A hearing to determine whether a 17-year-old boy accused in the stabbing death of his grandmother will be tried as an adult started Wednesday morning in Douglas County District Court.

The teen, Jaered Long, was arrested in late December after his grandmother, Deborah Bretthauer, 67, was found dead in her apartment on Dec. 28, 2015.

Long faces a single charge of first-degree murder in juvenile court. He pleaded not guilty to the charge, and in March prosecutors requested that he be tried as an adult.

Wednesday morning Lawrence Police Officer Josh Leitner testified on his recollection of finding Bretthauer.

That December evening, Leitner testified, he responded to 1200 George Court for a stabbing call and found the apartment’s door slightly ajar.

Both Long and Bretthauer lived in the apartment. Long was 16 at the time.

Leitner said he and another officer entered the apartment and found Bretthauer lying in her bed in a pool of blood.

“We checked her pulse; she did not have one and her hands were cool to the touch,” he said. “This was not a person we could save.”

Douglas County Coroner Erik Mitchell testified Wednesday that he both visited the scene of Bretthauer’s death and performed her autopsy.

In all, Mitchell said Bretthauer suffered 34 injuries ranging from stabs wounds to slices and abrasions. The fatal injury, he said, was a stab wound above her breast bone, which cut her heart and aorta.

“There are other injuries that could bleed, but that one is immediately not survivable,” he said.

Long was arrested soon after Bretthauer was found. Since then, two additional felony charges have been filed against him.

On both May 12 and June 9, Long was accused of battering a juvenile detention center employee. He faces two felony counts of battery against a law enforcement officer.

If Long is found guilty of first-degree murder in juvenile court, he could face a maximum sentence of 60 months in prison or to the age of 22.

If the motion to prosecute Long as an adult is granted and he is convicted, he could face life in prison.

Requests for the arrest affidavit in Long’s case regarding Bretthauer’s death were denied by Douglas County District Court.

The court proceedings are scheduled to last until Friday.