12-Year-Old Realizes He’s Going to Prison After Triple Murder

The bodies of three teenagers are found shot and discarded in a Florida town all within miles of one another. Gunshot wound ahead exit one up front. They say bad things come in threes. My son is close to the people that I shot. And detectives are about to discover how true that is. If you're scared, that's okay, because it sounds like he's a pretty bad dude. When they track down the killers in this triple homicide. We're not ruling out anything. So I cannot quite hear. We're leaving out a part of the story here. And I think this part is going to be the most upsetting. In the spring of 2022, a woman in Oklahoma, Florida watches a white sedan hit a garbage dumpster outside her neighbor's home. They live in the community forest lakes park off of one eighty third avenue road, a long stretch of road that runs between several lakes. The woman tells her neighbor and he goes to check it out. He never could have expected what he saw next. Okay, she called you. You come out here, see her on her side, blood everywhere. Call 911. She told you to move on her side because it was coming out of her mouth and everything. Did you hear anything? Did you hear the possible crash or possible gunshot? I didn't hear it at all. You hear nothing at all? She told me it sounded like someone crashed into my dumpster and then there was like two shots. Okay. There, lying by the roadside, is a teenage girl, wounded, bloody and unconscious, but still breathing. You said single shock back then, right? So far, hope they know. The girl is transported to a local hospital where doctors attempt life-saving measures. Meanwhile, the witness who saw the crash has a story to share. One police hope can lead them to whoever did this. All right. You said it sounded like a gun. Yeah, it was in a loud gunshot. I was thinking about 20 or 30 minutes ago. It was in a loud gunshot, but I heard about four or five. And I saw the car run into the dumpster. And once I seen the car run into the dumpster, I stepped out my door. And I seen a man run out of the car towards down the road, towards my yard, and I yelled at him. What the fuck are you doing? And I've seen him skirt off until the neighborhood. The car was a white 2015 Chevrolet cruise. The witness believes she saw a male in the driver's seat. I only seen one person running, and it was a male. It had a male figure. Now the search is on for the shooter. Who could do something so evil? Marion County police are hoping the public might know the answer. We need to solve this and put the pieces of the puzzle together so that we can put the individuals that committed to crime behind bars. By the morning, detectives have an ID on their female victim. Her name is Leila Silvernale. She's 16 years old. A softball player at nearby Lake Weir High School. And apparently, she's not the only Aquahotein on officer's minds. Investigators learned that one of the people she was last seen with is now missing. Her boyfriend, 17-year-old Michael Hodo, Jr., who also goes by the nickname Sosa. By 8 a.m. the following morning, the Marion County Sheriff's Office receives another 911 call. And just like that, a second search is underway. The body of a young male has been found in a ditch three feet from the roadway. They are drag marks in the sand leading from the intersection to the victim's feet. The victim's body was discovered less than half a mile from where Leila was found the night before. We checked all back on these trails down by the lake. There are some stalks, I guess. Within hours, the male victim is identified by his father as Michael Hodo, Jr., Leila Silvernale's 17-year-old boyfriend. Are there only one or two deceitings? Is that the one with their gunshot to the head? Got you. And they're related? Got you. Michael's father says he last saw his son outside the mousse lodge in Oklawaha, with Leila around 6 p.m. the night before. The couple and another female friend left the mousse lodge in Leila's car. On April 1, investigators locate Leila Silvernale's missing Chevrolet cruise, halfway submerged in a body of water near Malooka Loop Trace, nine miles from where Leila's body was found two days earlier. When officers open the trunk, they discover the body of a third victim. That's when the whispers about a serial killer on the loose in Oklawaha get louder. Parents are keeping their high schoolers indoors, and residents in town are looking over their shoulders. Until Marion County Police holds a press conference to dispel the rumors and bring the public up to speed on the facts of the case. This is an isolated incident, and there is nothing to indicate that it is a serial killer whatsoever. All of our victims are known to know each other, and we're together leading up to the incident itself. Following the announcement from police, an unexpected witness comes forward to tell investigators what she knows. The mother of a young man connected to the victims. The son is super close to the two people that got shot. I know one's passed away once in the hospital, and then he is also close to Camille. The third body is confirmed to belong to 17-year-old Camille Corals. Camille was friends with Michael and Leila. Like them, Camille's cause of death is determined to be a gunshot wound. It told me that what he knows is that I guess Leila and Mikey, which they call sister, went in. I guess they picked up two black boys as what he said. And I guess they tried to rob. Yeah, I can't say it was a bomb that Leila was a bomb that I can't do. I don't know that situation. I just know it would be such they tried to rob. But we don't know who they are. No, I can't clarify who they are. Around 6.30 p.m., the group met up with a friend of Michael's, a 19-year-old who will call by the alias Will. Will was supposed to purchase a firearm that evening from someone Michael apparently knew. The sale had been arranged through Snapchat. But when Will got into Leila's car, something felt off. Michael was in the front passenger seat and Leila was driving. Will got into the back seat next to two people he didn't know. On April 2nd, friends of the victims confirmed the identity of one of the people in the back seat that night. Police finally have their suspect. And he's nothing like the serial killer the public might have imagined. So, before I ask any questions here, you're a how old? 12 years old, okay. What's your highest level of education? What's your highest grade you passed? 7th grade, okay. Police believe 12-year-old Christopher Atkins is tied to the string of murders in Oklawaha. Because Atkins is a minor, his mom accompanies him in the interrogation room and waves his right to an attorney. Well, you need to (beep) If you ain't (beep) the time, tell the whole (beep) or you don't even have a house third day when I told you not to. That's why you're not saying you was home. When I told you, don't leave at my house when dark time. This 'cause my room door closed on me, you leave at my house. You're not holding a trouble. And you've been speaking, you gotta talk right now. We know you went out, but we need to know from the beginning, from your mouth, what it was. Detectives have already searched the dump sites, Leila's vehicle, and Atkins' home. A dive team has even searched the pond near Malaka Loop Trace. In the search of Atkins' home, police find a gun. They believe could be the murder weapon. Because you came down here in handcuffs, and they executed a search warrant on the house, which they did collect some things, and I'd like to talk to you about those things, too. What the (beep) in the house? That room is homicide. I will, and I'm gonna tell you about that, 'cause I guess that I'm not gonna leave anything out. It's, I can tell you, it's pretty damning. I guess I would use that word. So (beep) serious. So, rain. You want to tell them some of the things that happened on the house. So we did execute, obviously, a search warrant at the house. We didn't just pull Christopher's name out of a hat. We didn't just pick your residents as. So what we're going to do is search for it. Reaper down there has been super honest. Reaper is a nickname for another suspect. The other stranger will describe seeing in the car the night of the shooting. 16-year-old Robert Robinson. Police already have Robinson in custody. At police headquarters, investigators, and his mom are asking him for the truth. If you lie in, you stand in on this island, bad your [bleep] cell. Because if you got something to tell, these are my-- Because they have to hide the tail. You're lying not there at set, like at 7 o'clock, I was sleeping. No, no, what y'all want me to do? Like, I'm telling you-- I'm telling you-- I'm telling you one. And I'm telling him the truth. And you're sitting there, go over there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE] Stop believing in him. [INAUDIBLE] No, no, it's not there. They're like-- I didn't say you. It's not there. You weren't there. You were first in trauma. You were sitting there just moving with everything. No, no, no, you lie so [bleep] much. [bleep] I don't know what to believe will come down to the [bleep] map. You're so quick to want to protect people. Don't run a snitch. Why don't you call this and call that? That you're willing to see her and go to your fucking mother, that I know. What you didn't do. I know what I meant. That you didn't do it. The evidence police have gathered says otherwise. And so does 12-year-old Christopher Atkins. Atkins version of events begins to line up with the story they heard from their witness a few days prior. What allegedly started as a gun sale turned violent when a potential buyer will got into the car. Will took out $240 in cash, then, according to Atkins, Robinson hit him in the cheek with the barrel of the gun. He demanded the cash, so Will gave it to him and exited the vehicle. As the car pulled away, someone in the backseat opened fire. The bullet missed Will, but both his mom and sister allegedly witnessed the shot. Atkins also tells investigators about a third suspect. Someone who was apparently also in Leyla's Chevrolet cruise that night. There are a lot of names in the story now, so the detective asks Atkins to draw it out for him. Alright, so the white guy is, "Oh, thanks, he's in the passenger seat, and where's the white girl?" Alright, so she's in the driver seat, and put a seat for your name where you're sitting at. Okay, and then you said that Reaper was in the car where he's sitting at. So Reaper's in the middle, and then you said there was a guy wearing all black. Can you draw an X where he's sitting? Got it. Atkins calls the new suspect X. Apparently, he has a reputation that makes teens around Oklawaha think twice about ratting him out to police. Even Atkins claims he doesn't know the guy personally. If you're scared to say this person's name, the person you marked as X, who's wearing all black and a ski mask, did this person say anything to you? Let's not be a snitch mentality, if that makes any sense, if you know who he is, and you're scared of him, that's okay. That's okay, because it sounds like he's a pretty bad dude. But detectives know the boys are connected, and they already have a name for X, because, as it turns out, he's no stranger to Marion County Police. 17-year-old Taj DiMarcus Bruton is detectives' third suspect in the triple shooting. In the days leading up to the killings, Bruton was already being investigated for other cases, including a car jacket. On April 7, police announced they're offering a $10,000 reward for his arrest. The guy that you marked as X, he raised the gun at the white guy, and you said he shot it. And then what happened after he did that? A shot at the white guy. You said he shot this white guy first? Yeah, the white guy was my son. Where'd he shoot him at? Atkin says that Michael Hoto Jr. was shot first. Taj Bruton pulled the trigger. Then, Layla Silvernale was shot in the head. It was Robert Robinson, who fired the shot. Robinson remembers it differently. Okay, all right. After times shot, the girl was first shot Layla. When he shot Layla, I got out the cop with the blitz bar dripping and I didn't want it to get on me. I'd be shot so his aim would like it. I got out the cop. He was like, he was like, stop the car. Stop the car. Pull Layla out the cop. I was like, no, no, no, I'm not touching. I'm not touching. So he ran around. He pulled Layla out the cop himself. Boom. He was standing outside. He was out of the car shooting into the back seat. Yeah, the trunk up. Now he was shooting in the back seat with the seat down. I told you this was a little beverage with the seat down. So he was at outside the back door on that side. Yes, he was halfway into trunk halfway in the back seat. He shot in the head. Is there a reason behind that, like why he. What did he say? He chose to shoot the guy before the girl. Like, help us understand. Because I think because the guy had the one that had the gun. It was really, it was really, it was really for a gun. It was really for a gun. How did they get out of the car? The white girl and the white guy. He, he, he, he pushed him out. He, he did what he pushed him out. Michael and Layla were both killed inside the car. Then their bodies were dumped on the side of the road less than half a mile away from one another. But what about Camille Corals? Who shot her? And who stuffed her body into the trunk of the car before shifting it into neutral and letting it sink into the water? But I think it's really important that we talk about what happened with the, with the trunk area. We process that car front to back, top to bottom, bottom top, three times. Three days worth of actual forensic work. Several forensic people. I don't think you could have set anywhere in that car and not got blood on you. Anywhere except the trunk of the car, where the suspects kept Camille Corals alive. But they never planned to keep her there for long. Text messages between the suspects reveal a message that sets something to the extent of. If we bang Sosa and Layla, you have to shoot the, in the trunk. The suspects took turns shooting. Each team shot one victim. By the time Bruton and Robinson killed Michael and Layla, the only person left to fire around was 12-year-old Christopher Atkins. So he pulled down the back seat to access the trunk, held the gun into the darkness and fired. But Atkins wasn't looking at his target, and Camille Corals survived. So the girl in the trunk is like climbing out of the trunk. That's what you said, right? Yeah, like she was crawling. Yeah, she got shot, so she was crawling out. You're grabbing your, where did she get shot at? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I've only seen her shoot at the second time, but I heard her shoot at the first. Because I was not banged, like described. I've seen, I've seen Todd's kill both of them. And that I've seen. I've seen Todd's kill both of them. Boom, boom. Atkins says it was Robinson who shot Camille a second time. And who ultimately took her life. Robinson denies that. Did you ever shoot a gun? We shot the Scott 9 in the woods over everybody where we lived, to make sure he didn't jam our name. But that's the only time I shot a gun at all. Atkins also tells police it wasn't his choice to shoot Camille the first time. He says he had to shoot, because Robinson had threatened to kill him if he didn't. So I get out and quiet and he get out. And I heard, boom. So I heard the boom. Yeah, then she's crawling out. She's all crawling out. And I look over. Boom. They shot again. Police later confirmed that the gun found in Atkins' home was the same weapon used to kill Camille. This is the life of one of the one of them? Oh, it's big angstum. Well, I'm going to put it to them. Yeah, I'm going to see some grip. But I'm telling you. It's all I'm saying is, this is money, this is money that all falls down to them. You get what I'm saying? And this type of stuff happens. And now I'm playing with f***ing guns. The f***ing series. The teens then drove Leila's car into the lake and fled on foot. But they left behind two cell phones and several spent shell casings, more than enough evidence to tie it all back to them. On April 4th, 2023, Leila Silvernale dies from her injuries. Three teenagers are dead. And three others are in police custody. I'm going to go to jail for my April life. I didn't even see him. Nobody's mind getting torn. I didn't see him. Nobody got told him what they wanted to know. (beep) - I told you, I told you, I wanted to know. - Robert Robinson and Taj Bruton are indicted on three counts of first degree murder and robbery among a list of other charges for incidents preceding the murders. They both plead no contest and are sentenced to life in prison in July 2025. Bruton is sentenced to an additional 20 years for the unrelated car jacking. Christopher Atkins is indicted on a first degree murder charge for the shooting of chamelec morals. He also faces robbery charges. - You don't have to go down the corner. Maybe because this is, this is-- - I don't know, I don't know. This is something serious. This is no person's. They, you know what I'm saying? So it's been, I'm gonna suck it up and, hey, should I never let that happen? Should I never let that happen? Now you're in a whole world trouble. Nobody can get you out of this. You can give them the same. - Atkins pleads guilty and is sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison. Michael Hoto Jr's father tells the court the killers deserve the death penalty, which was taken off the table due to their age at the time of the crimes. - This is crazy. - I love you baby. I love you too. - All three teens will be eligible for sentencing review after 25 years. (dramatic music) [BLANK_AUDIO]