14-year-old girl allegedly conspired with former El Paso soldier to kill her mother

A 14-year-old Pennsylvania girl conspired with her soldier boyfriend to have her mother killed, texting him hours before the woman’s death, “I want her gone,” authorities said Thursday.

Jamie Silvonek was charged as an adult with homicide and criminal conspiracy, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said.

Cheryl Silvonek, 54, was fatally stabbed in the driveway of her Upper Macungie Township home early on March 15, hours after taking Jamie Silvonek and the eighth-grader’s 20-year-old boyfriend, Army Spc. Caleb Barnes, to a concert, according to court documents.

Barnes, who was on leave from Fort Meade in Maryland at the time of the slaying, was previously charged with homicide. He confessed to stabbing Cheryl Silvonek in the neck while they were in Silvonek’s car, and Jamie Silvonek admitted she was there when he did it and helped dispose of the body, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

The teen’s attorney, John Waldron, said Thursday he believes his client was under Barnes’ control, given the age disparity.

“There has to be some type of duress or coercion,” he said.

Waldron said he intends to have Jamie Silvonek examined by a forensic psychologist and will petition to have the case moved to juvenile court.

“She cried incessantly and told me how much she missed her mom, and told me she was coerced, she was afraid she was going to be killed, she was afraid her dad was going to be killed,” Waldron told The Associated Press. “So there’s a lot of things we have to decipher here.”

Barnes’ public defender did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment. An Army spokesman said he enlisted in February 2012 and is from El Paso, Texas.

Authorities said Barnes and Jamie Silvonek met in October – when she was 13 – but that she told him she was 17.

Cheryl Silvonek found out about their relationship in early March and ordered the couple to end it, according to court documents. A day later, the teenager told Barnes she wanted her parents dead, the documents said.

On March 14, Cheryl Silvonek learned that Barnes intended to take her daughter to a concert in Scranton. “He is not coming to this house,” Cheryl Silvonek texted to her daughter, who had taken the SAT college entrance exam that morning, according to a police affidavit.

The teenager then texted Barnes: “She threatened to throw me out of the house. I want her gone,” the affidavit said. Later, she allegedly wrote to him: “Just do it.”

Cheryl Silvonek agreed to drive her daughter and Barnes to the show. On their way, the teenager and her boyfriend continued texting each other.

“I love you. We can do this. We’ll just drive her car then, right?” Jamie Silvonek wrote, the affidavit said.

Barnes replied in a text, “No. That leaves us as the suspects.”

The three drove back to the Silvonek home after the show, and Barnes allegedly stabbed Cheryl Silvonek. The couple then ate at a restaurant and went shopping for gloves, bleach and other cleaning supplies, authorities said.

Police found the body in a shallow grave a few miles from the Silvonek home. The victim’s blood-soaked car was found nearby.