A 15-year-old Tennessee boy who allegedly stabbed a 13-year-old girl to death on a trail near a suburban neighbourhood told his former girlfriend he had gotten his “first body” while separately claiming to detectives that he had acted in self-defense.
Malakiah Harris is facing a second-degree murder charge in the October 2024 death of Savannah Copeland, whose severely stabbed body was found on a pathway near railroad tracks and the Broadacres subdivision swimming pool in Powell.
Knox County Juvenile Court Judge Tim Irwin is now weighing whether Harris should be transferred to adult criminal court, a rare move typically reserved for juveniles accused of extreme offences. In a brief statement given to Knox County Sheriff’s Office detectives the night of October 22, 2024, Harris claimed Savannah had come at him first.
“I turned around and she was coming at me,” he told investigators, adding that he grabbed a knife from her, put her in a hold and stabbed her in the back. He said the stabbing continued until she stopped moving. Harris and his younger brother then walked home, leaving Savannah’s body behind, according to a report from local WBIR.
But testimony from witnesses painted a starkly different picture. Security footage showed the three of them walking near Powell Elementary School just before midnight on October 21. Around 12:25 a.m., Harris and his brother were seen walking back without Savannah.
The following morning at school, Harris approached his former girlfriend, who had been with him for less than a week, in the gym. He was crying and hugged her. Later, he confided that he had killed someone. “I got my first body,” he told her, though he did not reveal the victim’s identity.
A second teen Harris attempted to implicate in the killing also testified, denying any involvement. He said Harris had reached out to him during the night, telling him “The deed is done” and asking for help disposing of the body a request the teen said he ignored.
Harris’s younger brother testified that when they returned home, Harris told him, “All you need to know is it was self-defense.”
Knox County Medical Examiner Dr. Darinka Mileusnic is expected to take the stand to shed light on whether forensic evidence supports Harris’s self-defense account. A ruling on his transfer to adult court could come as early as Thursday.
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