15-Year-Old Charged in Brutal Stabbing

A 15-year-old Bronx, New York girl, known to her friends as "Lady Red" and described in the press as "baby faced," has been charged with the stabbing of a man whose mutilated body was found stuffed in a garbage bag. Sharell Butler has also been charged in another murder.

"She's one piece of a work," an unnamed police officer told The Daily News.

Butler is being held without bail and will be tried as an adult in both cases, prosecutors said.

On Dec. 21, the body of Hopkins Drago, 22, was found by a building supervisor in the Bronx. He had been stabbed 40 to 50 times and stuffed into a plastic garbage bag, police said. Investigators believe that Butler and Robert Pastore, 19, killed Drago because they thought he was a police informant.

Deadly Home Invasion Robbery

Also dead is Christopher Umpierrie, 24, who died from a gunshot wound to the chest. Police believe he was killed by Butler and another man during a home invasion robbery on Dec. 19. Police said the man shot Umpierrie while he and Butler was trying to steal his marijuana and money.

Prosecutors paint Butler as a violent member of the Bloods gang, but her attorney, Xavier Donaldson, denies that she has any gang involvement. "She's a 15-year-old girl," said Donaldson. "She's scared. She's just a kid."

Pastore is being held on a statutory rape charge, but has not been charged with any murder.

See Also:
15-Year-Old Girl Arrested in Brutal Bronx Stabbing

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^{Photo: Police Photo}