14-Year-Old Florida Girl Sets Home On Fire For Slender Man

According to the authorities, a 14-year-old Florida girl was influenced by the fictional character Slender Man to set her Florida house on fire with her mother and brother inside.

Lily Marie Hartwell’s mother went to her bedroom to sleep in their Port Richey home around 10:15 p.m. with her two children in their room on Wednesday night.

On Thursday morning around 1:45 a.m., she woke up and smelled smoke. She was only able to find her 9-year-old son. After securely getting him out of the house, she re-entered and couldn’t find her daughter.

The Fire rescue also didn’t found her in the house.

After a few hours, her mother received a text message from her daughter saying, “Mom, I’m so sorry, I don’t know why I did it”. Another text message read, “Did any of u get hurt?”

She searched in the neighbor’s house but she was not there. She was found in a park near her house.

Public information officer Eddie Daniels Jr. at the Pasco Sheriff’s Office told PEOPLE, “She had packed her bag that had water, cookies, knives and a couple lighters in it. She fell asleep in one of the park bathrooms”. He added, “Before the fire began she was reading an e-book called Soul Eater and got to a scene where someone gets into a verbal argument and one person was apparently shouting at the other”.

She told the investigators that the incident happened due to an argument she had with her mother regarding cleaning her room earlier that night. After that, she decided to set the house on fire.

Hartwell changed her nightgown so it wouldn’t catch fire and went into the kitchen where she found a bottle of rum and another liquid. She mixed them both and then she poured it on a bed sheet and towel in her garage, set it on fire and left the house.

Investigators found a diary where she talked about killing. It was written in it, “If this keeps up, there will be no safety in this house. Mom, if you ever find this before it happens, I’m sorry”.

After the investigators found her, she said that she was influenced by Slender Man and also talked about the incident that took place in Wisconsin, where 2 girls were influenced by the same fictional character. They stabbed their classmate and were charged with stabbing their classmate 19 times. Their victim returned to school this week after recovering from the injury sustained in the incident.

The investigators also checked her computer and they found that she frequently visited the website Creepypasta.com, which is a website associated with Slender Man, a fictional character created by Eric Knudsen.

Hartwell has been charged with 2 counts of attempted murder along with arson.

Authorities are waiting to find out from the Florida State Attorney’s office if she will be charged as an adult or a juvenile.

News Source: www.People.com