Gaymee Paw murder suspect identified as 16-year-old boy

Gaymee Paw (images via WEVV; Facebook/Burns Middle School Volleyball)

Investigators in Kentucky allege that a 16-year-old high school student was shot once in the head and killed near a park on Wednesday by a 16-year-old boy she “[a]t one point in time” dated.

The Daviess County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that Gaymee Paw, an Owensboro High School student, was the victim of a murder near Ben Hawes Park, around a 10-minute drive away from where she attended school. Authorities reportedly said they were dispatched around 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday to the scene of the shooting and that Paw died later on at the hospital. The next day, authorities said, they confirmed the cause of Gaymee’s death.

“This morning an autopsy was performed on the victim from yesterday’s death investigation by the Kentucky State Medical Examiner in Madisonville, Kentucky. The cause of death has been determined to be homicide due to a single gunshot wound to the victim’s head,” the sheriff’s office said.

According to authorities, the suspect is a 16-year-old male whose name will not be released “until authorized to do so by the appropriate court authorities.” In other words, if or when the minor suspect’s case is transferred to adult court, as has been the case in murder cases against juveniles younger than this defendant is, his identity will officially be revealed. What the law says:

Upon motion of the county attorney, the district court must conduct a preliminary hearing to determine whether a child should be transferred to circuit court for trial as a “youthful offender.” (A youthful offender is proceeded against in most respects as an adult. Before invoking the youthful offender provisions, the county attorney is required by law to consult with the Commonwealth’s attorney.) Following the preliminary hearing, if the court determines that (1) there is probable cause to believe the child committed the offense alleged and otherwise meets statutory age/offense/prior record criteria and (2) at least two of a list of seven determinative factors specified by statute (one of which is “the best interest of the child and community”) weigh in favor of transfer, it may issue an order transferring the child to circuit court. Whether the case of a child charged with a felony is handled in district court or circuit court, all offenses arising from the same course of conduct must be tried with the felony.

Sheriff Brad Youngman revealed that the victim and suspect “did go to school together” and “at one point in time they were boyfriend-girlfriend,” The Messenger-Inquirer reported. In the same report, County Attorney John Burlew was quoted saying, “I absolutely am in favor of trying this individual as an adult.”

“If the judge determines to transfer it to circuit court, then (commonwealth attorney) Bruce Kuegel’s office will be prosecuting it; I know that they want it,” he reportedly said.