Thomas Roy Stein, 18, has pleaded not guilty in Fort Myers to second-degree murder with a firearm and three counts of attempted robbery in the death of Kayla Rincon-Miller, a 15-year-old who was shot after leaving a movie with two friends on March 17, 2024. Prosecutors say the group was walking toward McDonald’s when a silver SUV drove toward them, blasted them with high beams and then came to a stop before two men got out with guns and demanded their bags.
The two surviving girls said they heard gunshots and then saw Rincon-Miller lying on the ground. Louann Dejaie told investigators she saw the teenager collapse before saying, “I just got shot.” Emma Grace Wright said that after Stein allegedly fired, an accomplice scolded him, “Why’d you shoot?” Those accounts sit at the center of a case that turns on who pulled the trigger, who drove the SUV and whether the street encounter was a robbery that spiraled into murder.
Police said surveillance video showed the vehicle make a U-turn before the shooting and aim for the group. Investigators tracked the rental SUV to Stein’s home, where it had been rented in his mother’s name. When officers interviewed Stein, he said he had learned of the investigation through Instagram and believed the homicide was a “setup.” He asked for an attorney and the interview ended.
The case has already produced one major break for prosecutors. Christopher Horne Jr. pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and three counts of attempted robbery under a negotiated plea agreement that calls for a 25-year sentence and requires his cooperation in Stein’s case. His sentencing is scheduled for May 19, making him a potential witness as the trial continues.
What the testimony and video evidence are expected to decide is whether the jury believes the shooting was a planned robbery gone wrong or whether Stein was wrongly accused. The surviving witnesses place a gun in the hands of the men who got out of the SUV, while Stein has denied guilt and pointed to the investigation itself as a “setup.” For Rincon-Miller’s family, the question now is no longer what happened on that March night. It is whether the state can prove who is responsible before the plea deal in the companion case is locked in later this month.
