DA: Teen's Alleged Killer to be Tried as Adult

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA -- Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman has announced 16-year-old Tristan Stahley will be tried as an adult in the stabbing death of his girlfriend, Julianne Siller, of Royersford.

Stahley faces first- and third-degree murder charges after he allegedly stabbed his girlfriend of five months in the throat during an argument on Saturday night. Her body was discovered off of a trail in Skippack's Palmer Park a short time later.

The incident that led to Siller's death began at Stahley's home on Rittenhouse Lane, where he and Siller were overheard arguing by his parents. The couple then drove to Palmer Park, where they continued to argue while walking the trail.

According to the district attorney, Stahley then used an orange-handled EMT knife to stab Siller multiple times – including in the throat – before dragging her body into the woods and returning to his home. 

Upon his return home, Stahley reportedly confessed to his parents that he had killed Siller, and he told his mother that he couldn't go to jail and wanted to kill himself, according to a report by the Mercury. Police were dispatched to the Stahley home a short time later, where they saw Stahley's father wrestling a knife away from his son's throat, the report states.

After police separated the two, Stahley again allegedly confessed to killing Siller, and directed officers to where the he had hidden the body, according to 6ABC. Stahley was then taken into custody, where he was later charged with murder and related offenses.

Stahley was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility without bail, as he awaits his preliminary hearing on June 5.

Prior to Siller's death, friends had tried to warn her of her boyfriend and "his troubles," according to CBS3.

"We always told her to keep your distance and break it off," said Rhett McDonald, a friend of Siller's, in an interview with CBS3.

Stahley's parents withdrew him from Perkiomen Valley High School for unknown reasons in February, and he also had made implied threats to one of Siller's friends on Twitter earlier in the month.

His Twitter account has since been taken down.

In the wake of Siller's untimely death, friends and family formed a makeshift memorial at the park entrance, and took to social media to express their grief.

“I can't even believe someone could do this to you,” “You were the happiest most caring girl in the entire world.”

Friends on Twitter also began using the #RIPJulie hashtag, while others on Facebook created a R.I.P. Julianne Siller group.

Siller was scheduled to graduate from Spring-Ford Area High School on June 13.

Click here to read Patch's previous coverage of the case.