Aaron Trejo, 16, was arrested after the body of 17-year-old Breana Rouhselang was found.
The aunt of the Indiana teen charged in the stabbing death of a schoolmate he allegedly got pregnant said her nephew had suffered a bad concussion “that could have messed with his mind,” according to a report.
Aaron Trejo, 16, was arrested Sunday after the body of 17-year-old Breana Rouhselang was found in a dumpster near her Mishawaka home. Rouhselang, who was six months pregnant, had been stabbed multiple times, as well as strangled, an autopsy showed.
Trejo allegedly told police that he and Rouhselang had fought about the pregnancy, which he said she had waited too long to tell him about and by the time he knew, it was too late to get an abortion.
“I took action … I took her life,” Trejo allegedly said when investigators asked what he did.
But Trejo’s aunt said that picture doesn’t align with the teen she’s watched grow up.
“This is not him. This is not in his character,” Alexzaundra Patton-Manu said in an interview with The Daily Beast. “Everybody’s still in shock.”
The extent of the relationship between Trejo, who played football for Mishawaka High School, and Rouhselang, who was a cheerleader and a manager for the football team, is unclear.
Rouhselang’s father and stepmother reportedly said they were unaware that the girl was pregnant and said they had never before met or heard of Trejo. It appeared Rouhselang’s mother, with whom she lived, was aware that her daughter was expecting and that Trejo was the father, according to the police affidavit.
According to Patton-Manu, Trejo’s family did not know that Rouhselang was pregnant with his child.
Trejo and his three siblings were raised in California until their father’s search for work brought them to Indiana around 2007. Patton-Manu said the "loving" family are all "God-fearing people."
She also pointed to an incident on the football field as a potential explanation for her nephew’s alleged crime, saying he had a “bad concussion” and “that could have messed with his mind, too.”
Trejo appeared in court Tuesday, were he entered a preliminary plea of not guilty. He is being tried as an adult, and is being held without bond.
InsideEdition.com has reached out to relatives of both Trejo and Rouhselang for comment.
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