Mike Boudet

His sister had fled the scene with her cousin.

Well, more like escaped.

Justin was trapped in an upstairs bedroom and

didn't even know he was injured.

The police were about to wade into a blood-soaked house, but first needed to convince her grandson, Justin, to unlock the door and come outside.

Justin was risking his life letting the officers in because the killer was still there.

In the bathroom, the water was running.

Jalen Plummer was fully clothed, standing under the shower.

The blood from his own knife wounds swirled into the drain.

When asked for his mother's name, he was able to give it to the officer, but he couldn't spell it, saying that she never told him how.

The discovery of the murder weapon was good news and bad news.

Good news that this unlikely and lucky victim found it, but possibly bad news that he cleaned it up.

Justin naturally had a lot of questions about himself, his grandma Diane, and his brother.

who had been led away in handcuffs.

In her bedroom, they found Diane Madison dead of multiple stab wounds, including one that completely severed her carotid artery.

And the little dog he was referring to was sitting on the bed in the same spot where he'd been sleeping peacefully next to his owner.

Now, with a look of bewilderment.

The dog wasn't alone.

Almost everyone who knew Jalen Plummer was bewildered.

No one could yet explain why a college-bound teenager, quiet, smart, and planning to study pharmacology, had suddenly turned into a violent killer.