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Teen, Older Boyfriend To Be Tried In Plot To Kill Family

PLYMOUTH TWP. (WWJ/AP) - A judge has ordered a 15-year-old girl and her 23-year-old  boyfriend to stand trial on accusations they plotted to kill her family.

A Wayne County Circuit Court judge ruled Thursday that there's enough evidence to try Roksana Sikorski and Michael Rivera on attempted murder and conspiracy charges. Their next court date is Feb. 12. Both remain jailed on $1 million bonds.

Michael Rivera
Michael Rivera (Booking Photo)

Sikorski is charged as an adult. Investigators believe the pair conspired to kill other family members so they could run away together. Sikorski's parents have said she and Rivera were in a sexual relationship.

Prosecutors say Sikorski stabbed her 12-year-old brother multiple times in the neck on Oct. 17 while Rivera was outside her family's home on Glenmore Court in Plymouth Township, sending her instructions via text message.

Police say Rivera guided the girl, advising her on whether the knife she had was enough to do the job. Other messages included a diagram of the neck, instructions to cut it "like a tomato," and to make sure the victims stopped breathing, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The boy's screams alerted family members, who interrupted the 2 a.m. attack as Sikorski and Rivera fled the area. The boy was treated at a hospital and is still recovering from his injuries.

Sikorski faces four counts of conspiracy to commit murder and one count of assault with intent to murder. Rivera faces the same charges as well as felonious assault.

Sikorski's attorney, Leslie Posner, told the judge the girl suffers from RAD or reactive attachment disorder, a rare but serious condition that occurs in children who have been neglected and are unable to form a healthy emotional attachment with their primary caregivers, usually their mother, before age five. Sikorski was 4-years-old when she was adopted from Poland with her sibling, Posner said, adding that she suffered years abuse before coming to America.

"At that time 1990, a lot of people were adopting young children from Poland and now as they become teenagers, it turns out, there is a knowledge about this condition called RAD – it's Reactive Attachment Disorder," Posner told WWJ Newsradio.

"They came from a very, very, very bad background," she said. "They were locked in closets, beaten" by their biological parents. "It's really tragic but they suppress a lot of what happened – post traumatic stress disorder – type thing – and then just the right bad group of events happened. And then something like this can happen."

Sikorski's parents, Jeffrey and Laurene, told reporters their daughter met Rivera on Facebook earlier last year and "fell under his spell."

"He was using her to do his dirty work," Laurene Sikorski said. "I think she just thought that this guy loved her and she wanted to do whatever he told her. She was very vulnerable."

Despite the recent series of events, Laurene Sikorski said she and her husband plan to stand by their daughter.

"She has a mental disorder and she needs help, and I want to make sure she gets help. We are supportive of her," she said.

Posner said Jeffrey and Laurene Sikorski initially did not know the nature of their daughter's relationship with Rivera. When they realized the two were involved in a sexual relationship, Posner said the parents started working with police to charge Rivera with criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

The Sikorskis believe Rivera convinced their daughter to go along with the murder plot so that he wouldn't face prosecution on the sex charges.

A judge previously dismissed criminal sexual conduct charges against Rivera, at the request of the prosecutor. Posner said she thinks the prosecutor dropped the CSC charges, specifically "against a minor," because they are charging the girl as an adult in the murder plot. Posner added that sex charges against Rivera could still be brought again at another time.

TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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