AUGUSTA – An affidavit revealing details of the slaying of Marlee Johnston, 14, of Fayette, will remained sealed for at least another two to three months, a state prosecutor said Wednesday.
Patrick Armstrong, 14, of Fayette, who is being held in state custody, is accused of murdering the Winthrop Middle School eighth-grader on Nov. 26. The two were neighbors living about one-third of mile away from each other in the Lovejoy Shores Road neighborhood on Lovejoy Pond.
The girl had taken the family’s dogs for a walk and never returned. Family members found her body in the pond a short time later.
Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson and Armstrong’s attorney, Walter McKee, have both agreed to put off a detention hearing until a state forensic psychological evaluation is completed, they both said Wednesday.
The affidavit by a state police investigator had been ordered sealed Dec. 2 by Judge Charles LaVerdiere for 60 days but that time has been extended, Benson said.
The evaluation is expected to be set in the next month or two, Benson said.
The state had requested the diagnostic evaluation to help them determine whether to seek a bind-over hearing to try Armstrong as an adult.
McKee said Armstrong will remain in state custody at a Charleston detention center until a detention hearing is set.
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