Teen obsessed with death, files show

The Southwood Middle School student accused of fatally slitting a classmate's throat frequented websites that gave instructions on how to injure and ''incapacitate'' people, according to court papers released Friday.

A 14-year-old student, identified only as A.D.M. to protect his privacy, told police that Michael Hernandez, also 14, wanted to demonstrate a technique he learned on a website for incapacitating people by putting his thumb in the base of A.D.M.'s throat.

A.D.M., whose name appeared on a hit-list in a journal Hernandez kept, refused to let Hernandez touch him.

Hernandez is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jaime Gough, who was killed on Feb. 3 in the second-floor bathroom of the Palmetto Bay middle school. Gough was an eighth-grade student along with A.D.M. and Hernandez at the school. Hernandez is being tried as an adult and could face life in prison if convicted.

During a search of Hernandez's parents' home, police seized eight throwing stars, five knives, a razor blade, computer disks, compact discs, a computer and a box of latex gloves, according to court records.

They also seized his backpack at school the day of the slaying. Inside, they found a knife that they believe to be the murder weapon, two bloody latex gloves, a jacket with blood stains and a journal, according to the records.

Prosecutors have released some 40 journal pages as part of pre-trial evidence given to the defense, which the public is entitled to view under Florida law.

The journal entries suggest that Hernandez was obsessed with death, violence and reading the Bible. Dark thoughts written in a schoolboy scrawl cover the spiral-bound pages.

But the documents released Friday also suggest Hernandez was an average teen. He also carried a Sony Walkman, playing cards, his class schedule, pens, pencils, glue sticks and lots of chewing gum and breath mints.