9, Was Beaten To Death During Gang Initiation

EVERETT - Two teenagers have been charged with murder in the beating death of an Edmonds teenager last month.

Jeramie Moran, 17, and Tagan Arnold, who turns 18 tomorrow, were charged with first-degree murder yesterday in Snohomish County Superior Court.

They were charged as adults under a state law that automatically treats 16- and 17-year-olds charged with serious, violent crimes as adults.

Prosecutors allege the pair killed 16-year-old Stephen Camero during a brutal gang initiation gone awry. Camero's body was found by schoolchildren April 8 in an Edmonds-area yard in the 23000 block of 90th Avenue Southwest.

Camero died from injuries caused by blows to the head, according to the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office. He had been struck by an object at least a dozen times and his throat had been cut.

Prosecutors say Camero met Moran and Arnold and two other young men at an Edmonds motel room on the evening of April 7, and shared a fifth of gin. They later drove to a store. Outside the store, Moran was beaten by one of the young men during a gang initiation, the charging papers say. After Moran's beating, Camero reportedly told the group he wanted to be initiated into the gang as well.

The five then drove to a spot near Camero's Edmonds home, where the group repeatedly hit the teenager. Court documents allege Moran and Arnold did most of the beating, stomping on Camero's head and kicking him. Eventually Moran dragged an unconscious Camero into the trees before he and the others drove away, the charging papers say.

When they returned to the motel, Arnold and Moran allegedly decided to kill the victim. The group then drove back to the spot where they had left Camero. Moran had armed himself with a closet rod from the motel room, the charging papers say.

When Moran and Arnold returned to the car, they were bloody, and the rod was stained, prosecutors say.

After the group cleaned up at the motel, they drove to an Edmonds lake, where they threw their bloodstained clothes and the closet rod into the water. Then they drove to a restaurant in Seattle for a meal, prosecutors say.

After eating, Moran reportedly asked to be driven back to the Edmonds site. When he got there, he walked over with a steak knife from the restaurant to where Camero lay. When he returned to the car, he wasn't carrying the knife, and he told the group Camero was dead, according to charging papers.

Detectives later found blood on the shoes that both Moran and Arnold were wearing on the night of Camero's death.

Both teenagers are being held in Snohomish County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail each.

Authorities said they were still investigating the case.

Anne Koch's phone message number is 425-745-7814. Her e-mail address is: akoc-new@seatimes.com