Three 16-Year-Olds Charged With Capital Murder After Beating & Stabbing A Fellow Teen To Death

Three Alabama teenagers are being charged with capital murder in the death of 17-year-old Lesley Luna Pantaleon, whose body was found in a creek.

Pantaleon was last seen leaving her home on June 24, driving her mother’s 2006 Blue Chevrolet Trailblazer. Her family called police to report her missing after she didn’t return home. Five days after her disappearance, CrimeStoppers sent out a release, requesting the public’s assistance in finding the teen. Police now believe that she was already dead by this time.

A tip led police to search nearby Catoma Creek on July 4, where Pantaleon’s body was sadly located. Her remains were transferred to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for an autopsy. On Tuesday, authorities arrested Ta’Niya Merriweather, Erin Taylor, and Tyeshia Whisenant, all 16-years-old. They have all been charged with capital murder.

According to court records, Pantaleon was murdered on the same day she vanished. Allegedly, she had gotten into a fight with the three girls, and was beaten with a metal pole and stabbed to death near the creek where her body was located. The three suspects then took Panteleon’s Trailblazer and cellphone.

The three teenage girls were booked into the Montgomery County Detention Facility on Tuesday and are being charged as adults and held without bond.