Benton City teen admits plotting to murder classmate with a knife during lunch hour

A 17-year-old student will go to prison after admitting he planned to attack a fellow student with a knife during their lunch hour.

Jeremiah D. Cunningham was the mastermind behind the murder plot nearly 1 1/2 years ago in Benton City.

He reportedly picked that particular classmate because the teen was new to the school and “disrupted the flow” of the social order, but Cunningham had to abandon his plans when other students noticed him in a suspicious mask behind the Ki-Be Red Apple Market.

Cunningham has been locked up in the Benton-Franklin Juvenile Detention Center on $500,000 bail since November 2017.

He was charged as an adult in Benton County Superior Court, and pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

“... I agreed with another to intentionally cause the premeditated death of another and took a substantial step to do so by bringing a knife to the location where the victim had been lured,” Cunningham wrote in his plea statement.

Murder plot sentencing in May

The plea comes as Cunningham faces a second criminal case for allegedly threatening to put the name of a detention center employee on a “hit list.”

Prosecutors said there is no indication that because he reached a plea agreement in the adult case he may plead to the felony harassment in Juvenile Court.

Cunningham is scheduled for sentencing May 2 on the murder plot.

While the standard range for the crime is 15 to 20 years in prison, Deputy Prosecutor Terry Bloor said in court documents that he will recommend an exceptional sentence of 12 years.

The defense will be free to ask for even less time, documents said.

If sentenced before his 18th birthday on July 10, Cunningham initially would go to a state juvenile facility before moving to a state prison.

2 other teens charged

His co-defendant, Fe H. Hadley, was transferred to the Benton County jail first thing this past Wednesday because she turned 18.

Her bail was $50,000 while in juvenile detention, but jail records show she now is being held on $100,000.

Hadley has a May 20 trial in Superior Court for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

A third teen, Gabriel D. Pfliger, is charged in Juvenile Court with second-degree assault with a deadly weapon. His case is on hold while he undergoes mental health evaluations.

Prosecutors say Cunningham and Hadley conspired to get an 18-year-old behind the market in Benton City.

Once they stabbed Ryan Vaughn, they were going to hide his body in a nearby orchard, according to court documents.

Cunningham, his plans derailed, put the knife in a dumpster before returning to class, documents said.