Autumn Pasquale - A 12-year-old New Jersey girl was brutally murdered by two brothers who lured her to meet them at their house via Facebook so they can exchange bike parts.
Autumn Pasquale, a Clayton Middle School student, never returned home and was last seen riding her favorite new BMX bike on Homecoming Day 2012.
The teenager's tragically died at the hands of brother's Justin and Dante Robinson, who strangled and beat her to death after luring her to their home to trade bicycle parts on Oct. 20, 2012.
Autumn Pasquale's murder was featured yesterday Jan. 14. on the first episode of the Season Two Premiere of the hit TV series WEB OF LIES on Investigation Discovery.
The show, which features true crime stories, revisited Pasquale's story and sought to inform the pubic, especially parents, about the dangers of the online world.
The episode on Autumn's death is titled "Lost Rider" and features interviews with her father, grandmother and two officers who were part of the murder investigation.
Justin Robinson, who was 16 at the time, was sentenced to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter- strangling Autumn Pasquale to death because they wanted parts of her new bike.
After brutally beating and killing Autumn Pasquale, Justin and his brother Dante, who was 17 at the time, dumped her body in a recycling bin not far from their home.
When Autumn Pasquale did not return home her family became worried and started searching for her. Word spread and the whole community joined. Two later her copse was found in a bin on an abandoned building next to Dante's home.
Authorities arrested the brothers after their mother Anita Saunders found a troubling post on one of her children's Facebook account and called the police.
Autopsy reports indicate Autumn Pasquale died from "blunt force trauma, consistent with strangulation." The reports also showed that she was beaten but not sexually assaulted.
"This was not supposed to happen," Justin told Judge Walter Marshall about killing Autumn Pasquale. "This was all a big mistake."
"I am living every parent's worst nightmare," Autumn's mother Jennifer Cornwall said. "When I see the blue recycling bins out, I cry to think Autumn's innocent life was so easily discarded like a piece of trash," Autumn's maternal grandmother, Mary Pasquale said.
The family pressed the judge for a stronger sentence citing that their daughter's killer deserved a harsher punishment. "I believe the defendant deserves more that 17 year," said Anthony Pasquale, Autumn's father. He added that a Justin was a "murderer who does not deserve to live."
However, prosecutors agreed to a plea with Robinson's lawyers due to the challenging nature of evidence in the case. They agreed to plea to aggravated manslaughter instead of murder because of Justin's age and development disability.
