FORT MYERS, Fla. (Court TV) — A teenager took the stand on Friday, pointing the finger at his co-defendant in the death of a 15-year-old girl killed in a robbery gone wrong.
Thomas Stein appears in court. (Court TV)
Thomas Stein, 18, is standing trial on charges of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted robbery in the death of Kayla Rincon-Miller, who was killed on March 17, 2024. Christopher Horne Jr., 18, previously pleaded no contest to one count of second-degree murder and three counts of attempted robbery in a plea agreement with the prosecution.
While the agreement required Horne to testify truthfully against Stein, the prosecution didn’t call him as a witness in its case-in-chief. He was the first witness called by the defense when it began presenting their case on Friday afternoon. Horne walked in, wearing a red shirt and pants that identified him as an inmate at the Lee County Jail.
Horne said that at the time of the incident, he had known Stein for only a month or two, having met him through a mutual friend. When asked for the friend’s name, Horne demurred. “Do I got to do all that with him?” he asked the judge. Stein’s defense attorney tried to elicit information from Horne, who repeatedly denied knowing basic information, such as his cousin’s name.
On March 17, Horne testified that he and Stein had planned to “go hit cars and kick off, probably, but everything turned left.” Horne explained that the two had planned to try to break into cars along Cape Coral Parkway. “We was supposed to go car hopping, but he turned into this area,” Horne said, referring to a movie theater.
Rincon-Miller, who was unknown to both Horne and Stein, had gone to the movies with two friends on March 17. After the movie, the three smoked marijuana behind the theater and then decided to walk to McDonald’s for food. The two surviving girls, Emma Wright and Louann Dejaie, testified that they saw a vehicle driven by Stein slow to pass them before it made a U-turn and came back toward them.
Christopher Horne Jr. testifies in court on May 1, 2026. (Court TV)
“One of the victims looked like a male,” Horne testified. “[Stein] pointed them out, saying, ‘ Let’s rob them.’ I said, ‘No, they probably don’t even got nothing. They don’t have anything, you know what I’m saying?'” Horne said he initially refused to go along with the plan. “I said no at first, then he drove around the block again, trying to press me, acting like I’m scared or something, and I let my pride get the best of me.”
Horne said the gun was already in the car when he got into Stein’s vehicle earlier. “I told him before it happened, ‘Take the bullets out of the gun,’ but you know what I’m saying, he didn’t listen.” Horne said the two jumped out of the car toward the group of girls, with Stein wielding the weapon. “I looked back, looked for him, and I looked back and in a quick second he shot.”
Prosecutors have denied any relationship between the victims and their assailants. After the shooting, Horne said he questioned whether Stein knew Rincon-Miller.
Horne: “I felt like he knew her, cause it was too fast.”
Defense attorney: “How did he know her?”
Horne: “I don’t know. Ask him that. That’s your defendant.”
After the shooting, Horne said he ran to get back into the vehicle. “I started screaming. I asked him, ‘Why did you shoot? Why did you shoot?'” Horne did not testify to any answer Stein may have given.
Stein’s defense attorney repeatedly pushed Horne for details about what happened to the gun, which he claimed to have thrown into a river, and about other people who may have been in the car. “You’re trying to say I did it,” Horne argued. “I wouldn’t do nothing like that.”
Horne conceded that his family also faced charges in connection with the incident after Stein’s mother alleged they were threatening her.
Stein’s attorney said their client intends to testify in his own defense.
