explainer

Everything we know about Nylah Lightfoot, the 14-year-old girl murdered by her best friend.

 

It was meant to be a fun sleepover, but for 14-year-old Nylah Lightfoot, it would be a sleepover she would never return from. Because that night her best friend deliberately and violently took her life.

This what we know about Nylah’s short life, and that fateful night.

Who was Nylah Lightfoot?

Nylah was a 14-year-old girl from Fort Worth, Texas, in the United States. According to her mother, Anntoinette Carter, she wanted to be a make up artist. It appears from Carter’s Facebook profile that Nylah had two younger siblings.

Nylah was fatally stabbed in the neck and chest at an apartment complex in May 2018. Her murderer was known to her, as she was a friend from school. She cannot be named as she was 13 years old at the time, and remains a minor.

What happened to Nylah that night?

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that on May 29, 2018, Nylah was with several girls staying over at her apartment for a pool party and sleepover. At 3:30am, the accused decided she wanted to go home because there wasn’t enough room for her.

Nylah and her friend argued over text message about a slamming door and returning clothes they had borrowed from each other. Nylah then went to her friend’s apartment, and the pair continued their argument.

The accused finally grabbed a kitchen knife, and returned to confront Nylah outside of the apartment. There, she stabbed her repeatedly in the neck and chest.

Nylah was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital and died soon after.

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Her mother, Anntoinette Carter, later claimed that the mother of the accused had watched the altercation between the two girls, but did not intervene.

nylah lightfoot
Nylah Lightfoot. Source: Facebook

What did the accused say in court about Nylah's death?

The trial for Nylah's murder was held in Fort Worth this month.

"[Nylah] walked up on me and said ‘stick me, stick me, I want to die anyways'," the accused testified.

"She ran up on me and she swung at me and I reacted. My intent was never to harm her. She was my friend."

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The accused also expressed remorse.

"I stabbed her and I made the worst mistake of my life," she said. "I wish I had been thinking clearly at the time. I pulled it out instantly and tried to stop her from running."

The accused described the victim as “the best friend anyone could ever have” and “like a sister”.

WATCH: Nylah Lightfoot's mother talks about the impact of her daughter's murder.

What did Nylah's mother say in her victim impact statement?

Nylah's mother, Anntoinette Carter, made a victim impact statement during the trial.

“When they told me it was you, it hurt,” Carter said directly to the accused, “You were at my house every day.”

"You spent her last birthday with us," the mother added in tears.

Explaining to the court that she didn't know how she could "come back from this", Carter further detailed her heartbreak at the loss of her daughter, noting that she will never see her daughter attend a school prom, graduate from high school, or get married.

What will happen to the accused?

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported last week that the now 14-year-old defendant was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. She will remain in juvenile detention until she is 19. After that time, she will be transferred to prison to complete her sentence.

The jury took approximately one hour and 20 minutes to reach the verdict, and one hour and 10 minutes to decide on sentencing.