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Local News Article

Skippack Teen Charged with Stabbing Girlfriend to Death

Written by Kelly Chandler, Staff Writer
2013-05-29

A former Perkiomen Valley High School student was charged with first and third degree murder, along with possession of an instrument of crime Sunday after authorities said he brutally stabbed his 17-year-old girlfriend to death in Skippack Township.

According to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office, Tristan Brian Arthur Stahley, 16, and his girlfriend, Julianne Siller, were involved in an argument at Stahley’s home on Rittenhouse Lane in the township May 25. The couple left the home a short time later, authorities said, and went to nearby Palmer Park.

It was there, along the Skippack Trail, that authorities said they found Siller’s body in a densely wooded area. She had been stabbed multiple times, including in the throat.

Authorities said the argument between the two had continued at the trail and Stahley attacked Stiller amid accusations about her “going out too much” and an ensuing broken cell phone.

After stabbing Siller with a folding EMT knife, he reportedly dragged her into the woods and fled the scene.

Upon arriving home, Stahley’s mother saw her son had “been crying” and had dirt and blood on his legs, according to the arrest affidavit. After a walk on a trail near the family’s home, Stahley told her he broke up with Siller and stabbed her, court documents said.

Around 10 p.m., state police said they were called to the scene for an altercation between Stahley and his father. Authorities said the pair was fighting over a knife Stahley was holding to his own throat.

His father was reportedly able to wrestle the knife away from his son and sustained minor injuries in the process.

Stahley was taken into police custody and later confessed where he hid Siller’s body, authorities said.

A subsequent autopsy by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office ruled her death a homicide.

Stahley, who dropped out of Perk Valley back in February, had been dating Stiller for about six months on and off, officials and friends of the couple said. He was recently treated for drug addiction, his parents allegedly told police.

Siller, of Royersford, was scheduled to graduate from Spring-Ford High School with her classmates in less than three weeks.

Friends and family mourned her via social networking sites since Sunday.

A memorial featuring flowers, pictures and notes of sympathy stands on the trail near the place her body was found.

School officials at both Spring-Ford and Perkiomen Valley offered their sympathy and counseling services for students affected by the tragedy through press releases.

Stahley was arraigned by Judge Edward Kropp Sr. and was remanded to Montgomery County Correctional Facility without bail. He is being tried as an adult.

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