A Florida jury has convicted 18-year-old Thomas Roy Stein of first-degree murder with a firearm and three counts of attempted robbery in the shooting death of Kayla Rincon-Miller, a 15-year-old girl killed while walking to McDonald's after a movie night with friends in Cape Coral on 17 March 2024.
Seventeen-year-old Thomas Stein was found guilty by a Florida jury on all counts, including felony murder and three counts of attempted robbery, in the killing of 15-year-old Kayla Rincon-Miller. He is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date. pic.twitter.com/K9201SlRGq
— Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) May 5, 2026
Stein, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, faces sentencing on 10 July. He was charged as an adult shortly after his arrest on 19 March 2024 and was later indicted by a Lee County grand jury on 4 September 2024.
Filming a 'Red Carpet' Walk Before the Attack
The trial's most striking testimony came from Rincon-Miller's two surviving friends. Louann Dejaie, 18, and Emma Wright, 19, told the court they had watched a Bob Marley film at a local theatre that evening before the group decided to walk to a nearby McDonald's for food.
Minutes before the shooting, the three teenagers were filming each other on Rincon-Miller's phone. 'We had taken Kayla's phone and started taking photos of her, telling her to make the sidewalk her red carpet,' Wright testified. They were laughing and dancing along the pavement.
Emma Grace Wright, who was one of three teenagers attacked on the night Kayla Rincon-Miller was shot and killed, takes the stand. Wright said that after Thomas Stein allegedly shot Rincon-Miller, an accomplice scolded Stein, “Why’d you shoot?” pic.twitter.com/oT3iAwt3aj
— Court TV (@CourtTV) April 30, 2026
When a silver SUV slowed to roughly 5 mph and rolled past the group, the girls didn't panic. 'I thought it was a prank, a joke that maybe one of Kayla's or Louanne's friends were pulling on us,' Wright told the jury. The SUV then made a U-turn, flashed its high beams, and stopped directly in front of them.
'I Just Got Shot'
Armed men jumped from the vehicle and demanded the teenagers' bags. Within seconds, Dejaie heard three gunshots. The attackers fled back to the car. She ran to Rincon-Miller, who was lying on the ground.
'She was like, "I just got shot," and I remember telling her it's gonna be OK,' Dejaie testified. 'I just didn't want to believe.'
Louann Dejaie, one of three teens attacked the night Kayla Rincon-Miller was killed, described the terrifying moment the shooting unfolded. She told jurors she saw Rincon-Miller collapse before saying, “I just got shot.” Dejaie said she tried to help but was too shaken. pic.twitter.com/yUOO823mqW
— Court TV (@CourtTV) April 30, 2026
Rincon-Miller died the following morning from a gunshot wound to the torso. The associate medical examiner found the firearm's muzzle had been just 2 to 3 centimetres from her chest.
A Rental Car, a Mother's Name, and 'Phantom Passengers'
Cape Coral police traced the Hertz rental SUV to Stein's home through GPS data and mobile phone records. The vehicle had been rented in his mother's name for a beach trip earlier that day.
Stein's defence hinged on a story prosecutors called fiction. He told the jury that two additional passengers he knew only as 'JD' and 'Trey' were in the vehicle, and that 'JD' had struggled with Rincon-Miller and fired the weapon. He claimed he was trying to break up the fight when the gun went off.
No other suspects have been arrested or charged. Co-defendant Christopher Horne Jr., who pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and three counts of attempted robbery, testified there were only two people in the car and identified Stein as the gunman. Horne told the court that Stein pointed the girls out, said 'Let's rob them,' and pressured him into going along. After the shooting, Horne said he screamed at Stein and asked why he fired the weapon.
Horne faces 25 years in prison, with sentencing set for 19 May.
'Thomas Stein was not trying to provide assistance to Kayla. He fled the scene and only worked on getting rid of evidence,' assistant state attorney Sara Miller told the jury during closing arguments.
A Pattern That Won't Stop
Rincon-Miller's death fits a broader national crisis. Firearms have been the leading cause of death for Americans aged 1 to 19 since 2020, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. A peer-reviewed study published in the journal Pediatrics found that in 2021 alone, 4,752 children and teenagers died from gun-related injuries across the country.
Stein was 16 when prosecutors say he drove the getaway car, supplied the weapons, and planned the robbery that ended a teenager's life. He will be sentenced as an adult on 10 July.
