A teenager and her boyfriend murdered her grandparents, then had friends over, police say
Two teens are facing charges of first-degree assault and murder after the girl’s grandparents were found dead in their home in Lawrenceville, Georgia, according to local media reports.
Cassandra Bjorge, 17, and Johnny Rider, 19, have been accused by police of stabbing and bludgeoning Wendy and Randall Bjorge to death sometime near the end of March or the beginning of April. The bodies were recovered April 8 after out-of-state relatives reached out to police and asked them to conduct a wellness check, per CBS 46.
According to the medical examiner, the two victims, both 63, suffered blunt force trauma and incisions to the throat. Police suspect the teenagers used a tire iron and a knife to carry out the attacks. The examiner also said the grandparents were likely dead for a week before police found them.
However, police might have taken even longer to find them had it not been for a separate incident involving Rider’s sister.
According to WSBTV, police attempted to make contact with the couple more than once after the relatives requested they check in. But on Saturday, police were called to Rider’s sister’s house. There, the sister and her boyfriend alleged that Bjorge and Rider had struck them and attacked them with a baseball bat. Soon after that, police entered the home of Bjorge’s grandparents, per WSBTV.
The young couple was then tracked to a nearby apartment building, where they barricaded themselves inside, per NBC 11. As SWAT team members closed in on them, the teens attempted to kill themselves, according to police reports. They were taken into custody and then transported to a local hospital, according to the Associated Press.
Since then, they have been charged with murder and assault, and police have begun gathering evidence. Authorities told NBC 11 that they believe other teenagers were in the victims’ house after Bjorge and Rider murdered them, and while these teens were likely not connected to the murder, they may have information regarding the investigation.
Court records also indicate that Bjorge, who was living with her grandparents before their death, had a history of violence and issues with her family. Per multiple media accounts, county police were called to the family home more than two dozen times over a two year span, many times because Bjorge had run away, but also once because Bjorge allegedly assaulted her grandmother, according to NBC 11.
Still, Bjorge’s mother, Amanda Sterling, told WSBTV that she was shocked to hear the news.
“Not in a million years did I think something like this would ever happen,” Sterling said.
However, in a later news conference, Sterling’s lawyer, Alex Manning, admitted Bjorge had had behavioral issues in the past.
“You take away things from kids, you know electronics, or what have you. They get mad and they act out,” Manning said. “No one could have predicted this.”
This story was originally published April 14, 2017 at 11:21 PM with the headline "A teenager and her boyfriend murdered her grandparents, then had friends over, police say."