Man ‘Stabbed Stepdaughter To Death And Set Her Body Alight Because She Asked For A Snack’

A man stabbed his five-year-old stepdaughter to death and set her body alight because she kept asking him for food, a court heard.

Thomas McClellan is said to have ‘snapped’ when Luna Michelle Younger refused to leave his room until he gave her food, Detective Chuck Buckland told the judge.

The 25-year-old allegedly wrestled the girl to the ground and stabbed her five times in the chest.

He then covered her body with blankets, poured vodka on the pile and set it on fire in the bathtub, Buckland added at the preliminary hearing.

The girl, from Michigan, died of the stab wounds and sustained burns after her death, reports WLNS.

The Delhi Township fire department was called to the scene as the flames spread through the ground floor apartment.

Firefighter Corey Drolett told the court he thought Luna was hiding, until he found her body under the smoldering sheets.

Mother Victoria McClellan said she was at work when her daughter was killed, and the couple had argued earlier that day.

She convinced her husband to turn himself into the police, the court heard.

The stepfather has been charged with murder, first-degree child abuse and first-degree arson.

If found guilty he faces life in prison.