PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A 15-year-old girl was stabbed, beaten, set on fire and thrown into a river, and four acquaintances were charged with murder, authorities said.

The killers of Christine Marie Ham lured her to a small park behind a public housing complex in southwest Philadelphia on Saturday and attacked her, authorities said. Police said she was still alive when she was thrown into the Schuylkill River and managed to crawl out, but bled to death on the shore.

"Her excruciating ordeal and pain lasted at least an hour and perhaps more," District Attorney Lynne Abraham said Tuesday. "This killing was planned and not spur of the moment."

On Tuesday, Derrell Savage, 20; Demarcus Hamms, 19; Felicia Dawson, 19; and John Garrett, 17, were charged with murder, criminal conspiracy and weapons offenses. They were ordered held without bail until a hearing next Wednesday.

The slaying apparently had something to do with another altercation, Homicide Capt. Richard Ross said.

"There's no reason in the world for someone to die like that," Ross said. "There's nothing about the altercation that we know that would have caused it to rise to his level."

Authorities said all four were acquaintances of Ham.

They probably thought it was funny also.

oh man thats fucked up....id kill those mother fuckers.

never said i thought it was funny, the thread title is just kinda my style.. its really fucked up.



if this were my sister/daughter/girlfriend or any relation. all 4 would already be dead.

No, no. I wasn't referring to you thinking it was funny. I was just kind of adding to your post, heh.

Being involved with Law Enforcement, idiots like this come along and think what they did was hysterical. And that involves all crimes, even as minor as a parking ticket.

What's even worse about all of that is that she was able to pull herself out of the river. I mean, it's one thing to die before or drown or something, but to die after all of that is just sad. If like, only someone had come along or something...so regrettable.

Makes me want to step on necks.

Unfortunately a lot of people don't like to stop and help because they "don't like to get involved." We live in a sad world.