NEVADA, Mo. – The 17-year-old boy accused of stabbing two teenage girls to death entered a not guilty plea at his first court appearance Tuesday.
Garrett Matthew Mason is accused of killing 14-year-old Kylie M. Leyva and 18-year-old Anne E. Reed on Sunday in their home town of Nevada, about 95 miles south of Kansas City.
He faced arraignment Tuesday in Vernon County Court on two counts each of first degree murder and armed criminal action.
Officers from the Nevada Police Department found the girls at Reed’s home, 618 North Cedar St., about 6:30 Sunday evening.
According to Mason’s Vernon County probable cause statement, two witnesses told police one of the girls was able to tell them Mason had stabbed her and her friend.
Mason showed up to an unknown residence appearing to have fresh blood on his clothes and told the residents there to tell authorities he had been with them that afternoon, according to the probable cause statement.
Mason was taken into custody at his home, in the same block as Reed’s, a short time later. Investigators found a backpack there that had clothes and shoes that appeared to be covered in blood.
Nevada Police Chief Gary Herston said investigators were working to confirm reports that the three teenagers knew each other and were friends.
Herston said the last multiple homicide in Nevada was several years ago.
"We've never had anything like this happen," the police chief said.
While authorities have not released many details of the investigation, rumors are running rampant in the small southwest Missouri town.
See why a local father says his own daughter was in danger.
