A 17-year-old Clairton boy will be tried as an adult in the slaying of an 82-year-old female neighbor, an Allegheny County judge ruled yesterday.

Attorneys for Johnie "Trey" Washington III, who was 15 when he was arrested for fatally stabbing Florence Ranta, had filed a decertification petition to get the case transferred to juvenile court. After hearing extensive testimony from psychiatric experts and the defendant's mother last month, Common Pleas Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski denied the petition in a written order issued yesterday.

Mrs. Ranta was found alive in her home with stab wounds to the head and neck on Oct. 6, 2007. She died Oct. 10 at Mercy Hospital.

Investigators found a bloody thumb print on Mrs. Ranta's phone that matched the defendant's. They also discovered a pair of blood-spattered Nikes in the young man's home. Two witnesses told police he was driving around in Mrs. Ranta's car after neighbors found her beaten and stabbed in her home.

His lawyers previously waived a preliminary hearing on charges of homicide, burglary, robbery and car theft. He is scheduled for a jury trial before Judge Sasinoski on Feb. 16.

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