Girl Charged With Killing Dad Caught In Central Florida
Wednesday, July 14, 2004 – updated: 12:48 pm EDT July 14,
2004
PREVIOUSLY: Girl Escapes After Gluing Electronic Monitor To CatALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -- A 14-year-old girl on the run after being charged with murdering her father has been arrested in Florida, authorities said.
Kayla Marie LaSala had been under house arrest at an uncle's house and fled on July 3 after removing an electronic monitoring device from her ankle and gluing it to a cat.
"That's supposed to be very hard to remove. She was able to get that off," comments Lt. Paul Machoovina, Altamonte Springs Police Department.
A tip came in to detectives on Tuesday that she was in an Orlando, Fla., suburb with a 25-year-old man after her case was featured on the Web site of the television show "America's Most Wanted," WVNS-TV reported.
LaSala faces trial Sept. 7 as an adult on a first-degree murder charge for the Feb. 23 death of her father, Stephen LaSala, who was stabbed 100 times.
Kayla LaSala apparently met Troy Gilmore, from Altamonte Springs, in a chatroom on the Internet three months ago. She's been staying with him since July 6, according to the police report.
"She was able to talk some complete stranger over the Internet to come and get her and bring her out of West Virginia and come to Florida," explains Lt. Machoovina.
Mercer County (West Virginia) sheriff's Sgt. A.D. Beasley said she was arrested at Gilmore's house after officers tracked him down at his job on Tuesday and he told them LaSala was there.
LaSala will be extradited back to West Virginia and prosecutors will ask that her bond be revoked. She is charged with murder and escape.
Gilmore is charged with abduction and sexual battery. He told police he had sex with LaSala, but said he didn't know she was only 14.
"Whether or not she was completely truthful with him at the time he drove up and picked her up and brought her back, we don't know yet. That's still under investigation," says Lt. Machoovina.
Copyright 2004 by WFTV.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.