A Michigan man on trial for the murder of his 5-year-old stepdaughter said he killed the girl because “it wasn’t dinnertime.”
Thomas McClellan, 25, already had admitted to the stabbing death of Luna Younger, the Lansing State Journal reported. During a recorded interview, Detective Charles Buckland pressed McClellan for the reason behind the girl's death.
The interview was recorded when McClellan turned himself in, hours after the girl’s burned body was found by firefighters inside an apartment in Holt.
The recording was played during McClellan’s murder trial in Ingham County’s 30th Circuit Court. Arguments and testimony ended in the three-day trial on Thursday. McClellan faces charges of open murder, first-degree child abuse and first-degree arson, the State Journal reported.
In the interview, McClelland said he was at home with the child and was taking a nap, the State Journal reported. The girl knocked on his door around 5 p.m. on Nov. 1, 2016, and told McClellan she was hungry.
“What was so awful about Luna today that you had to kill her,” Buckland asked. “I don’t want to guess something, Tom. I want to hear it from you.”
After a long silence, McClellan said “I told her it wasn’t dinnertime.”
McClellan said he tried to shoo the girl out of his room, but she resisted.
"It tipped me over the edge," McClellan said. "She gave me more attitude."
He said he then grabbed the kindergartner by the shoulder and pulled her onto the floor. Then he sat on her torso and stabbed her in the chest with a pocket knife several times, the State Journal reported.
McClellan’s attorney, Patrick Crowley, said his client was guilty of second-degree murder and arson.
“I found myself in a difficult position as an attorney before you today,” Crowley told Judge Joyce Draganchuk. “I really am not going to take a position with regard to second-degree murder or arson.
"I believe the evidence stands for what it is."
A verdict is expected on Friday.
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