High school athlete killed pregnant cheerleader who didn’t get an abortion, Indiana cops say
This story was updated on Tuesday, Dec. 11.
When 17-year-old Breana Rouhselang stopped answering her phone on Saturday afternoon, her family “got the feeling that something wasn’t right and called police,” authorities say.
Now, an entire community is mourning after police say they found the teen’s body inside a dumpster in South Bend, Indiana, just a short walk away from where she lived, according to WSBT-22. The girl’s family said she was six-months pregnant at the time of her death.
“She was like my daughter,” Nicole Rouhselang, the girl’s stepmother, told The South Bend Tribune. “I’ve known her since she was 6. I just don’t understand it. She was young. Too young to have a baby herself.”
Police arrested Aaron Trejo — a sophomore football player at Mishawaka High School, which Rouhselang also attended — in connection to the death, according to WNDU. He is in police custody on a preliminary charge of murder.
Court documents say Trejo, suspected to be the father of Rouhselang’s baby, killed the teenager because he wanted her to get an abortion, but it was too late for it, according to Fox59.
He stabbed Rouhselang in the heart on Saturday during a fight, the court documents say, and choked her with her scarf. Then, police say, he hid her body in a dumpster and threw her phone in a nearby river.
He allegedly told police that he used a knife, which he also threw in the river, “because he thought it would kill Breana quickly,” court documents say, according to Fox59.
Rouhselang’s stepmother created a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral expenses.
“This is such a hard tragedy to accept!” the page reads. “This loving young lady was so full of life and didn’t deserve this.”
Chris Fronk, the St. Joseph County deputy prosecutor, said during a press conference that the teen’s death is hard to understand.
“The thing is that most of us are fathers, and any senseless death is very upsetting, but when you’re talking about young people, it’s more so,” Fronk said, according to WNDU. “Victims’, suspects’ families, those are the kind of people we keep our focus on, because they didn’t choose this.”
The teen’s family reported her missing on 4:30 a.m. Sunday, police say, and she was found in a dumpster at Pasquale Rulli’s Pizza that same day, according to ABC57. Trejo was arrested not long after the discovery of Rouhselang’s body, police say.
The girl told her mother she was going to meet up with Trejo on Saturday night, but the teen football player told police she never showed up after her parents called 911, court documents say, according to Newsweek. Police linked him to the crime, however, when they found bloody items belonging to Rouhselang near Trejo’s house — and then the girl’s stabbed body, court documents say.
The pizza shop offered a show of support for the slain girl’s family in a Facebook status.
“Our condolences to the families involved in the tragedy that took place by our restaurant overnight,” it wrote on Facebook. “The Rulli family are upset that this took place in our neighborhood and are saddened for our Mishawaka city.”
Lt. Alex Arendt, from the St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit, told The South Bend Tribune that police are still investigating.
In a statement to WBST-22, Arendt said the teens “knew each other through the football team at Mishawaka High school.” Along with being a cheerleader, Rouhselang’s stepmother said the girl also was a manager for the football team and played softball, according to The South Bend Tribune.
Students at the high school planned a walkout Monday morning in honor of their deceased classmate, according to ABC57. Gabby Trozzy, who had classes with Rouhselang, said she “didn’t believe” that her classmate had died at first.
“My first instinct was to like go on her mom’s Facebook page,” she told ABC57. “I was going to reach out but I shared a post like ‘R.I.P. You will be missed.’”
“I think it’s horrible,” Alexis Humphries, another classmate, told ABC57. “I don’t understand how somebody could do that like, she was just such an amazing person. Her friends, family, she definitely did not deserve this.”
The school released a statement online, saying that it “suffered a terrible tragedy.”
“There will be grief counselors available at Mishawaka High School first thing in the morning and throughout the day,” the statement reads. “School will be open, and we believe it is best for all students to come and be around those who care for them.”
Meg Sauer, communications officer for the school district, told The Indianapolis Star in a statement that “we’re just focusing on healing the kids.”
“Many of them have never suffered a loss,” she told the newspaper. “Especially like this one.”
Police say they will charge Trejo as an adult, according to WNDU.
This story was originally published December 10, 2018 at 2:45 PM with the headline "High school athlete killed pregnant cheerleader who didn’t get an abortion, Indiana cops say."