Kayla Horne, a teen in Fort Worth, Texas who recently turned 18, found out the hard way how important it is to be careful about the company she keeps. On Sunday, January 19, Horne and a group of “friends” were out late drinking, and tried to sneak into an after-hours club.
Horne stayed in a friend’s car due to her age, and the fact that she wasn’t feeling well. She threw up in the car, and waited for her friends to return. When they came back to the car, Horne said they were visibly upset.
“Out of nowhere, one of the girls punched me in my mouth and jaw,” she told WFAA reporters. “Just kept getting beat on and beat on.”
After beating her nearly unconscious, they took her wallet, her phone, and her jewelry. The teen girls then pushed her out of the car and left her on the side of the road.
“I thought I was going to die,” she said tearfully.
Police found the beaten teen while responding to a different call
As Horne lay on the side of the road, police found her while responding to a call about a robbery. She was taken to the hospital, where she was treated for wounds to her face, head, arms, hands, and torso.
Jessica Alexis, the teen’s aunt, was glad her niece survived – but is disappointed the betrayal ended with a stay in the hospital.
“This could’ve happened to anybody,” she said. “She could have died. We couldn’t have had her here today.”
The group of girls are being criminally charged… Barely
Police told reporters her “friends” will be charged with aggravated robbery, though her aunt thinks that punishment isn’t enough.
“I don’t know why they’re not being charged with more, because they tried to kill her,” she said. “Something needs to be done.”
The teen says she’ll have a difficult time trusting anyone again after the people she thought she could trust suddenly turned against her.
