After 911 call about burglar, boy is found dead in home with little sister
Sheriff's deputies going door-to-door after a burglary report found a 15-year-old boy dead in his Florida home, apparently killed by an intruder.
(CNN) — Sheriff’s deputies going door-to-door in a neighborhood after a burglary report found a 15-year-old boy dead in his home, apparently killed by an intruder as he tried to shield his little sister, Florida authorities said.
The discovery of Khyler Edman in his Port Charlotte home occurred Thursday after the sheriff’s office received two calls around 4 p.m. — one reporting a suspicious pedestrian and another reporting a burglar, Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell said.
Deputies caught the suspect after a brief pursuit. The man — Ryan Clayton Cole, 27 — had wounds on his hand.
The deputies then began checking homes in the neighborhood to see if they had been burglarized. Seeing signs of forced entry at Khyler’s home, they went inside, and there they found the teen’s body.
“We believe the teenager was trying to protect the home and protect (his) younger sibling,” Prummell said at a news conference.
The 5-year-old girl was not physically harmed. A GoFundMe page started by relatives indicated she had witnessed her brother’s death.
Sheriff’s spokesman Skip Conroy told CNN there was a “physical struggle” but said that details would not be released.
Khyler was in 10th grade at Charlotte High School, where he was in the JROTC and took some honors classes, said Mike Riley, the school and community liaison for Charlotte County Public Schools.
“He was the kind of kid you would want to be your son,” Riley told CNN. “He was polite to everyone. He laid his life down to save his baby sister and showed his community how much of a hero he was.”
Cole is known to law enforcement, Prummell said. He has a history of drug use and was on probation when arrested.
He made a court appearance Tuesday on burglary and theft charges. He is being held without bond for violating his parole, according to records from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.
He has not yet been charged in connection with Khyler’s death, Conroy, the sheriff’s spokesman, said.
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