'Hiccup Girl' charged with murder after allegedly luring man into trap

Catherine E. Shoichet
CNN

(CNN) - A Florida teenager made famous for her extensive bout with hiccups faces first-degree murder charges after meeting a man online and allegedly luring him to a vacant home, where he was robbed of between $50 and $60 and killed, police said.

Jennifer Mee, 19, was arrested and charged Sunday - as were two men, Laron Raiford and Lamont Newton - hours after Shannon Griffin was found dead. He had been shot several times.

The victim "friended" Mee on a social networking site last week and the two exchanged messages in subsequent days, according to St. Petersburg, Florida, police. Authorities do not believe Mee or Griffin, a Wal-Mart employee who had recently moved to Florida from the Gulf Coast, knew each other prior to their online encounter.

After telling family members around 10 p.m. that he was heading out to meet a woman, Griffin rode his scooter to a vacant home where he had his first face-to-face encounter with Mee, police said. Mee led Griffin around to the back, where Raiford and Newton were armed and waiting, according to police.

Griffin was shot with .38-caliber revolver while struggling in what the three murder suspects described to police as a "robbery gone awry."

"All three suspects admitted to their involvement and were charged with 1st degree felony murder," St. Petersburg Police Sgt. T.A. Skinner said in a statement.

Mee will face the same murder charge as the two men, even though she didn't actually shoot Griffin, police said.

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