Del. teen charged in plot to kill friend

NEW CASTLE, Del. - July 18, 2008 Detectives tell Action News a plot to murder him was in progress when it was thwarted.

Instruments of death confiscated from the crime scene included plastic ties, rubber gloves, knives and a hacksaw.

Police say 18-year-old Samuel Stewart studied serial killers, collected the tools they used, and planned to kill his first victim, a 16-year-old friend, yesterday morning.

"He's been thinking of this or some type of form of this kind of act," New Castle Police Corporal Edward Dempsey.

Around 8:30 a.m., police responded to a 911 call from the Stewart family home at 6th and Cherry in Old New Castle. Stewart's sister told police she discovered her brother's 16-year-old friend asleep on the sofa with his ankles bound. She told officers her brother was acting strange and had made a terrifying declaration.

"Basically he advised her that he was going to kill his friend," Sgt. Bernard Torre said.

In the basement, police found a diabolical scene of an assortment of tools lined up on an ironing board including wire cutters, saws, and hatchets.

Police say after Stewart's sister called 911, she woke another sister, cut the ties from the boy's feet and told him to leave because his life was in danger. Officers arrived and took Stewart into custody. Police think he and the 16-year-old might have been intoxicated, but that the plan to kill was clear cut and narrowly avoided.

Stewart is charged with attempted first-degree murder, criminal damage, and other crimes. He remains behind bars on half a million dollars bail.