A Florida teen is facing adult criminal charges after allegedly stabbing a 14-year-old inside the group home where they both lived during a fight over a PlayStation, according to police.
Ruben Whitworth, 16, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder with a weapon on Thursday for the August 25 death of Jordan Dowdy, who was found fatally stabbed that Monday afternoon at a residence in the 5400 block of Northeast Third Avenue in Oakland Park, according to local police.
Dowdy’s mother told FOX and ABC affiliate WSVN that her son had previously had problems with Whitworth, which resulted in Dowdy being threatened.
“One day, Jordan asked him, ‘Ruben, would you like some mozzarella sticks?’ And he told [my son], ‘No, shut the fuck up, or I’m going to stab you and kill you.'” Tiffany Simpson told WSVN about Dowdy and Whitworth.
“Two weeks later, he died,” Simpson explained.
A caretaker at the One Hope United foster home was present at the time and discovered the two teenagers fighting before the stabbing occurred, according to police.
“I need paramedics right away,” the caretaker said, according to WSVN. “Where was he stabbed?” the dispatcher inquired.
“I don’t see the knife right now, I had to break it up and I had to get involved with this situation,” according to the caregiver. “Speak to me. “Are you with me?” the caretaker can be heard asking Dowdy, according to WSVN.
Dowdy’s murder was described by Broward County court records as “dangerous,” “depraved,” and without “premeditation,” according to ABC affiliate WPLG.
Bobbie L. Pecora, a neighbor at the group home, told the outlet that she met the teen earlier this year and spoke with him. “I said, ‘Hi, you’re new over there. How’s everything going? And he says, ‘It’s scary!'” Pecora recalls.
“He was terrorized before he was murdered,” Pecora claimed, adding that she saw cops at the home several times in connection with Dowdy’s death.
“The kid kept threatening him,” Simpson told WSVN. “I expressed to multiple people who were here within the home with him.”
Whitworth is reportedly set to appear in court later this month. He is being held in the Broward County Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale without bond.
