ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The State Attorney's Office has released audio recordings of Orange County detectives interviewing a 16-year-old girl who deputies said was involved in the death of her best friend.
The body of Melanie Medina, 15, was dumped April 11 on Ziegler Road near The Florida Mall, deputies said.
Ramsys Cruz-Abreu, 22, was arrested in connection with Medina’s death.
Investigators said Medina’s friend admitted in June to dropping a gun, accidentally pulling the trigger and fatally shooting Medina while the trio was in a car after a drug deal.
Channel 9 is not naming the teen because she has not been charged with a crime.
But the teenage girl initially told investigators a different story, according to the newly released recording, which officials altered to protect her identity.
“You don't know what happened to her?" a detective said.
“I have no idea,” the girl said.
“And if you did, would you tell me?" the detective said.
“Yes! I would want to know who did it because that was my best friend, and I wouldn't want anything to happen to her,” the girl said.
The detective goes on to ask the girl where Medina might have been and whom she was with the night before her body was found.
“I don't know,” the girl said. “I called her around 11 and she never picked up. And then her phone was off.”
The girl could be heard telling the detective that she was at home watching a movie that night and babysat the next morning.
The girl told investigators a different story two months later.
After selling cocaine and heroin to someone in a parking lot, Cruz-Abreu told the unidentified teenage girl to grab the gun and shoot anyone who approached them, an arrest report said.
The girl said she listened, but the gun was heavy and fell, the report said.
She told investigators she tried to grab the gun, but inadvertently pulled the trigger, sending a bullet through the passenger’s seat and into Medina, documents said.
Deputies said Cruz-Abreu is to blame because he told girl to grab the gun.
He's charged with manslaughter, failure to report a death and tampering with evidence. The girl hasn’t been charged.
Cruz-Abreu is out of jail on bond. His trial date has not been set.
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