A North Carolina court has sentenced a 17-year-old to serve 16 to 25 years behind bars after he admitted killing his older sister by stabbing her neck several times then dumping her body near a trash can back in 2017.
Claude Henderson II entered a guilty plea for the second-degree murder of his then 18-year-old Kayla Dezaray Hensley who was stabbed to death inside the family’s home before being tossed outside.
Henderson was 14 when he committed the atrocious crime and his defense attorneys argued he was so young and immature at the time to have the specific intent to premeditate beyond a reasonable doubt.
However, investigators seized at his home three pocket knives, a box cutter, and a canvas belt was surrounding his sister’s neck when she was found. The motive behind the murder remains unclear.
"She was the best thing that ever happened to me and will be missed by so many. She is and will always be my hero," Kayla’s grieving mom said back in 2017."
"In 18 years, she has ‘brought’ me so much. Kayla was sunshine in every person she knew. And she didn’t know a stranger; she would talk up a storm to anyone. She has overcome many downfalls in life. She was born with CP and was told she would never walk, she walked. She was born deaf, and had cochlear implants, and was able to hear. If anyone told her she couldn’t, she made sure to prove them wrong. She was an amazing girl! There’s nothing I could say to make people see how truly blessed I was to have her in my life. She was and always will be my hero."
