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Suspect in Jenise Wright Killing Formally Charged with Murder, Rape

The 17-year-old teen arrested in connection with the killing of a 6-year-old Washington state girl has formally been charged with murder and rape.
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The teenager of sexually assaulting and killing of a 6-year-old Washington state girl was formally charged with murder and rape on Friday.

A judge in Kitsnap County Superior Court found probable cause to charge Gabriel Gaeta, 17, with aggravated first degree murder and aggravated rape for the death of Jenise Wright, according to NBC Seattle affiliate King5.

Prosecutors said a psychological evaluation for Gaeta, 17, has not been completed, and a competency hearing will probably to be scheduled in the next two weeks, the station reported.

Jenise disappeared Aug. 2. Her body was discovered five days later in almost 4 feet of muddy water that investigators described as a "bog." Investigators said in court documents that Gaeta "nodded yes" when they asked him whether he was the only person involved in Jenise's death, which the state forensics lab had connected to him by DNA on Jenise's clothing.

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— Hasani Gittens