A TEENAGER admitted to murdering his twin sister after claiming he stabbed her to death when he was sleepwalking.
Benjamin Elliot, then 17, fatally attacked Meghan while she slept in the family home before immediately phoning the cops as soon as he woke up.
He was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison in February[/caption]
Benjamin is believed to have entered his sister’s bedroom armed with an Air Force survival knife[/caption]
Benjamin, now 21, said he was a frequent sleepwalker[/caption]
In a chilling call, Benjamin confessed: “I just killed my sister. Oh my God … I thought it was a dream.”
Benjamin, now 21, said he was a frequent sleepwalker but had never been violent during a nighttime episode in the past.
Despite his pleas of innocence, the young man was made to stand trial for murder.
He was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison in February.
CBS News 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty spoke to a caged Benjamin about the case earlier this year.
She asked how he could be so sure he was sleepwalking at the time of the deadly stabbing.
An emotional Benjamin replied: “I would never have done that.
“I loved her… She was my best and closest friend.”
The horrifying murder took place just before 4:40am in Texas back in September 2021.
Benjamin is believed to have entered his sister’s bedroom armed with an Air Force survival knife which was given to him by his dad just hours earlier.
He told police he stabbed her once in the neck.
The teen told investigators at the time: “I freaked out and, like, put the knife down and put a pillow on her to try and stop the bleeding.”
When police arrived to the house, they found Benjamin performing CPR on Meghan, reports Fox26 Houston.
She was pronounced dead at the scene with parents, Kathy and Michael Elliott being asleep at the time of the killing.
Benjamin’s defence was that he was sleepwalking at the time and so had no idea what he was doing.
The Elliot family do have a history of sleepwalking – including Benjamin himself – according to 48 Hours.
One of his childhood friends recalled one time during a sleepover, they found Benjamin eating a doughnut on the couch while asleep.
His defence team had neurologist and sleep disorder expert Dr. Jerald Simmons examine the teen in two sleep studies.
He determined that Benjamin could fall into slow-wave sleep as quickly as 11 minutes during the tests.
This phase of sleep is known to be when sleepwalking can occur.
Dr Simmons says this piece of data is crucial due to the timeline on the night of the murder.
Prosecutors found that Benjamin had been on his phone in the hours before Meghan’s death.
But, there was a 24-minute period where his phone showed no sign of activity before he called 911.
Dr Simmons says this would be enough time for him to fall asleep, enter a slow-wave deep slumber and carry out the attack.
He told 48 Hours: “Ben definitely killed his sister.
“He did it, there’s no question, he’s the one that had the knife and he stabbed her.
“But … he didn’t do this voluntarily. There was no motivation.”
Longtime family friend of the Elliotts, Drue Whittecar, told Moriarty that the siblings were as close as any in the town.
“He and Meghan are so close, you could never picture anything bad happening between them,” Mr Whittecar said.
This phase of sleep is known to be when sleepwalking can occur[/caption]
