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MISHAWAKA, Indiana, December 12, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Sixteen-year-old Aaron Trejo has been charged with murder and feticide after reportedly confessing to killing seventeen-year-old Breana Rouhselang because she didn’t tell him she was pregnant until it was too late for her to get an abortion.

Rouhselang, a Mishawaka High School cheerleader, was found dead this weekend in a trash bin behind a Mishawaka restaurant, Fox News reports. She was first reported missing by her family around 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning, after having been seen alive at their home around midnight.

According to an autopsy, she died from multiple stab wounds, had been strangled with her own scarf, and was approximately six months pregnant. Trejo was arrested Monday, and admitted to stabbing her in the heart, disposing of her body in a black trash bag, and throwing her phone and the knife into the river.

Trejo, a member of the school football team, “explained that Breana waited too long to tell Aaron about the pregnancy to get an abortion,” according to Detective Gery Mullins. “I asked Aaron what he did about that, and he replied, ‘I took action… I took her life.’”

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Breana Rouhselang

Homicide investigator Lt. Alex Arendt said that Rouhselang and Trejo knew each other from the football team, but the exact nature of their relationship was unknown.

The teen will be tried as an adult for the deaths of both Rouhselang and the child, as Indiana is one of 38 states that recognizes pre-born babies as victims of violent crimes against their mothers. A judge denied bail in Trejo’s first court hearing, WNDU reports, where he appeared via closed-circuit television. A preliminary “not guilty” plea was entered on his behalf.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family members and friends who have been affected by this great loss,” the school district said in a statement. It has also made grief counselors available at the high school, where students walked out for a moment of silence Monday.

The Family Justice Center of St. Joseph County and YWCA North Central Indiana have also organized a public vigil for Rouhselang Thursday evening at Ward Baker Park at 811 S. Byrkit Avenue.

Rouhselang’s baby was killed around Roe v. Wade’s recognized cutoff point for “viability,” at which fetal humans can survive removal from the womb, though as science advances newborns are more often becoming capable of surviving earlier deliveries. After viability, Indiana only allows abortions sought for a mother’s “health.”

If convicted of both slayings, Trejo could receive an additional six to 20 years on his sentence for feticide, the Indianapolis Star reports.

“It seems incredibly clear that [Trejo] might be the first case to have a successful feticide charge under this law,” Indiana University law professor Jody Madeira said. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the fetal homicide law in March, and it took effect in July.