PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – Hours after the Putnam County Sheriff's Office announced that 15-year-old Morgan Leppert and 22-year-old Toby Lowry are suspected of killing a disabled man, the teen's older brother spoke out in his sister's defense.
Last week, Leppert was at the center of a nationwide Amber Alert; however, three days after she and her boyfriend, Lowry, were picked up in Texas, the Putnam County sheriff said both are charged with first-degree murder in the death of 66-year-old James Stewart.
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Leppert and Lowry were picked up in El Paso just after 4 p.m. Saturday when a motorist recognized the couple from seeing a national news report and called 911.
Leppert's brother, Howard Hunt, told Channel 4 the ordeal has been an emotional roller coaster for the family.
"Some of the news stories have been portraying her out to be something that she's not. I mean, she does not have a violent bone in her body. She wouldn't harm a mouse," Hunt said.
However, Putnam County Sheriff Dean Kelly painted a much different picture at a Tuesday afternoon news conference, during which officials said Leppert acted as the ruse to get into Stewart's home after she and Lowry cased the man's home and learned he had trouble hearing.
Investigators said Leppert knocked on Stewart's door, said her car had broken down and asked to use the phone. That call was made to her own cell phone -- the connection between her disappearance and the homicide that led Putnam County to issue the Amber Alert.
Investigators said the pair wanted to steal Stewart's truck and killed him to get it.
Kelly said that Stewart was beaten with two metal rods, stabbed several times and suffocated with a plastic bag. The details of the killing were withheld from the public until after investigators had a chance to interview Lowry and Leppert.
"Of course, there are always suspicions, but until we had more facts, we had to error on the side of caution and treat her as an endangered missing child," Kelly said.
Kelly praised the national news media for getting out the Amber Alert information, which resulted in the capture of two people now charged with murder.
"My sister is young. She is the type to be easily manipulated. I don't think that she was there when allegedly the murder took place," Hunt said.
He said it was around Christmas when his family learned his sister had been lying about the Lowry's age, telling them that the 22-year-old was only 17.
Once Leppert's mother forced the two to end their relationship, he said no one knew the two continued to secretly date behind their backs.
"She was naïve. She didn't know what she was doing. She thought she was in love, and he brought her down a path of destruction. He should be the one paying for this, not her," Hunt said.
Steadfast in his beliefs, Hunt insisted not only was Lowry the mastermind in the whole thing but also that his sister was a victim who was terrified into playing along.
"This older guy pretty much took advantage of her and corrupted her, and that's what I believe happened," Hunt said.
He also said that authorities have not let them talk to Leppert since she was taken into custody in Texas.
Lowry and Leppert remain in El Paso, Texas, where Lowry was being held on charges of car theft, interference with custody of a child and panhandling. Leppert does not face charges in Texas, but had been held in protective custody by juvenile authorities since Saturday night.