ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Maurnice DeClue, a 15-year-old girl Hazelwood East High School student, faces assault charges in juvenile court after an altercation on Friday, March 8, with Kaylee Gain, a 16-year-old student at the same school.
In a series of videos that have gone viral on social media, Gain and DeClue are seen squaring off on a north St. Louis County street, roughly half a mile off of school property after school let out that Friday. Gain appears to throw the first punch before DeClue takes her to the ground and begins punching her and slamming her head into the concrete.
Gain suffered severe head injuries and continues her recovery in the hospital. DeClue was arrested and charged with assault on March 9.
As DeClue's first court appearance approaches on Monday, her family and Gain's family have been taking turns publishing their version of events through family members or attorneys.
On Friday afternoon, through a letter from their attorney, Gain's parents called for DeClue to be charged as an adult, citing screenshots of deleted social media posts they were unable to verify.
"Kaylee's parents have also seen screenshots of posts that the accused appears to have made on social media in the hours immediately after this incident (that have since been deleted) which show, in our view, an utter lack of remorse for her actions," attorney Bryan Kaemmerer wrote. "Although we are unable to independently confirm the authenticity of these posts, the timing of when they were made suggest that the accused did, in fact, make them.
"In one post, the accused admits 'this was calculated,' and even flippantly jokes about whether she should 'join MMA or WWE.' Given that Kaylee began visibly convulsing within seconds after the attack, the serious nature of Kaylee's injuries should have been immediately apparent to the accused.
"As such, if the accused made these posts having knowledge of the extent of the injuries that she inflicted on Kaylee, and also considering that enough time elapsed between the incident and the posts being made that the accused should have been able to more carefully evaluate and consider the implications of her actions, it demonstrates the accused's complete disregard for the well-being of a fellow human being and serves as further proof that the accused is an ongoing threat to the community."
In a phone call on Friday afternoon, Kaemmerer again acknowledged he was not sure if the original post was actually made by Maurnice, or perhaps by someone impersonating her. So we decided to VERIFY.
THE QUESTION
Did Maurnice DeClue share a tweet showing the video of her fight with Kaylee Gain with the caption asking, "Should I join MMA or WWE?"
OUR SOURCES
X (formerly known as Twitter)
St. Louis County Juvenile Courts
Defense Attorney Greg Smith
THE ANSWER
WHAT WE FOUND
The altercation happened on Friday, March 8.
According to Greg Smith, the defense attorney representing Maurnice DeClue, she was arrested between 10 a.m. and noon on Saturday, March 9. Juvenile arrest records are kept private unless a court later certifies the defendant to be charged as an adult.
The original post in question, a video showing the altercation, was published on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday night, March 10, at 9:13 p.m.
An account that appeared to use DeClue's name later shared that video with the caption "Should I join MMA or WWE?" That post was made roughly four hours later, according to metadata on X, which would have been somewhere around 1 a.m. Monday.
The account that posted that inflammatory remark no longer exists, which either means someone deleted the entire account, or X may have suspended it.
According to John O'Sullivan, a spokesman for the St. Louis County Juvenile Courts, no cell phones are allowed in juvenile detention, and teens held there have no access to social media on any computers at all. Therefore, DeClue would not have had any access to either post content to or delete accounts on social media platforms when these remarks were made.
So no, DeClue did not post the inflammatory remark joking about participating in MMA or joining WWE. In fact, the very timeline Gain's attorney cited actually makes it impossible for her to have posted the comments at all.