4-Year-Old Killed in Home Invasion Stabbed 36 Times

(Nov. 11) -- Authorities in Oklahoma have arrested a teenager in the brutal slaying of child, who was stabbed 36 times. The killing was committed during a home-invasion robbery, police said.

"In my entire career, I've never seen anything like this," Muskogee police Cpl. Pedro Zardeneta told Kansas City's KMBC. "It's sad."

Officials with the Muskogee Police Department did not return calls for comment from AOL News today. According to online reports, Aaron Laconsello, 18, was arrested Tuesday after police were called to a home in the 700 block of North N Street to investigate a home invasion and assault.

The homeowner, Stephanie Lane, who is eight months pregnant, told police that an intruder entered her house and attacked her 4-year-old son, Dakota, with a pair of scissors. Lane attempted unsuccessfully to fend off the attacker. She was assaulted but not seriously injured. Dakota, however, suffered 36 stab wounds and was pronounced dead at a Tulsa hospital.

A second child, Dakota's 6-year-old brother, was sleeping in another room at the time of the break-in and was not injured, police said.

Lane told police she did not know the attacker, but was able to provide them with a detailed description. Roughly two hours later, police patrolling on the nearby campus of Bacone College, located about three miles from the crime scene, spotted Laconsello walking in the parking lot of a lumber company. He was arrested and taken into custody without incident, police said.

"It's unbelievable. It really is. Just cannot believe it still," Dakota's grandfather, Jack Bumgarner, told Tulsa's KOTV. "We're gonna miss him greatly."

Laconsello was arraigned in court Wednesday, but was not formally charged. He is being held without bond in the Muskogee County Detention center.

Muskogee County District Attorney Larry Moore plans to file first-degree murder charges against Laconsello on Friday, he said in an interview today with the Muskogee Phoenix.

"The evidence that I've been given indicates it qualifies. ... If it does, I'll be requesting the death penalty," Moore told the newspaper.

Laconsello is also facing charges of first-degree burglary and assault with a deadly weapon, police said.

The Muskogee Phoenix also spoke with Laconsello's cousin, Colt Hooper, 19. He said Laconsello had been staying with him in a house a few doors down from the Lanes. Cooper said his cousin had recently been kicked out of his mother's house, in nearby Tahlequah.

"There is no sense out of this at all," neighbor Deanna Gilbert told KMBC. "I mean, he's a 4-year-old, you know? They didn't even take anything. They just went in there and brutally killed him."

According to KOTV, Laconsello was arrested twice in June for trespassing and public intoxication in Cherokee County. He was also banned from the Northeastern State University campus.

A motive in the case has not yet been established.

"In a criminal action, you usually have some answers. It may not be something that someone likes, but you usually have some answers. This is why this happened. We don't have any answers to that," Moore told KOTV.

A fund has been established to help Dakota's parents pay for funeral expenses and other related costs associated with his death. Contributions can be sent to the Dakota Lane Benefit Account at First National Bank, 510 N. Main St., Muskogee, OK 74401.