PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Roksana Sikorski is 15 years old and is charged as an adult with attempted murder.
She is accused of plotting to murder her entire family inside their Plymouth Township home.
In an exclusive interview with the Local 4 Defenders, her mother and father plead for the public to convince prosecutors she should be charged as a juvenile.
The family is asking for your support and has set up a website to try and convince law enforcement to change their mind.
View: ProtectRoksana.com
However, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy issued a statement saying, in part:
"Bluntly, it is rare for this office to charge a 15-year- old as an adult. However, the alleged facts in this case strongly warrant this decision."
View: Worthy's entire statement
The story begins 10 years ago, 4,000 miles away in Poland. Roksana, her brother Lucas and sister Angelica were living in an orphanage because their teenage mother was an alcoholic.
They were hoping to be adopted by an American family. Laurene and Jeff Sikorski are the metro Detroit couple who made that happen.
The Sikorski's brought the children to Plymouth and for the past 10 years they have been three typical kids growing up happy in the suburbs. That was until this summer when the dream was shattered.
"I woke to screaming. So, my husband was first out the door and he was yelling for me, 'Come! Lucas is cut! Lucas is cut!'" said Laurene.
The parents who opened their home and hearts to three orphaned children from Poland are sharing their story in hopes of convincing the prosecutor to charge Roksana as a child. They are angry she has been charged as an adult.
"Bluntly, I think Kym Worthy should be fired for the way her organization has handled this whole ordeal," said Jeff.
The parents say this horrific event happened because of Michael Rivera, who they say should have been in jail if police and prosecutors did their job.
"She had met this man on the Internet. He had told her initially that he was 18. They had started meeting at the local library. She kept referring to him as a tutor," said Laurene.
Rivera was not 18. He was 23 and he was allegedly having sex with their 15 year old daughter Roksana. It is illegal for an adult to have sex with a 15-year-old, even if it is consensual. The parents called the Plymouth Township police and filed a report. They had a rape kit test conducted at the hospital, but an arrest never came.
"We followed the procedures. We thought this Rivera guy was going to be arrested in the near future and he never was," said Jeff. "We never got any concrete answers on why he was never arrested other than some finger-pointing."
Police say they pursued the case aggressively. Four months earlier the rescued Roksana from Rivera's southwest Detroit home after she ran away. They drove to the prosecutor's office to ask for a warrant in person. They called in another request when Rivera showed up at Roksana's home a few weeks before the attack. The prosecutor's office says they issued and faxed over a warrant. Police say it never arrived.
"He was caught outside of our house, at least two times that I am aware of, by the Plymouth Township police but was never arrested," said Jeff.
The parents say Rivera was outraged at them for filing rape charges. His plan was to have them killed. The night Roksana cut her brother's throat, Rivera was outside the house texting her detailed instructions.
"He was telling her to get a knife. He was telling her to make sure it was sharp. He was telling her where to cut. He was telling her to go for the carotid artery and she's like, 'I don't even know where that is,' and he texts a picture of a carotid artery, an animated picture like from a textbook," said Laurene.
The plan fell apart immediately as 11-year-old Angelica screamed as she watched her 15-year-old sister cut her 12-year-old brother Lucas' neck. Mom and dad raced in and Roksana ran away.
"I'm a nurse so I took him into the bathroom here and gave him first aid, cover it with a towel and got some ice on him," said Laurene.
Roksana Sikorski and Michael Rivera are in jail charged with attempted murder. Lucas is back in school. He and angelica are working with trauma counselors. He has severe permanent scars and Angelica refuses to be alone in the house.
The parents say as an adopted orphan from Poland, Roksana is less mature than your average 15-year-old. Moreover, she was manipulated by a 23-year-old man. They aren't excusing their daughter's crime. They aren't asking for her release. They know it's not safe for her to come home. They just want her charged criminally as a juvenile.
"We love her, and I just want her to get well," said Laurene.