A Columbia juvenile charged with stabbing and killing her boyfriend will be tried as an adult after a Lancaster County judge denied a petition this week to transfer her case to the juvenile system.

Janiyah Torres, 18, was charged with criminal homicide and murder of the third degree after stabbing Anthony Serrano Jr. to death with a knife in August 2023. Torres was 17 years old at the time.

Torres’ attorney filed a motion to transfer her case to juvenile court in November 2023, but Judge Christopher Hackman ruled Tuesday that such a move “will not serve the public interest.”

The ruling came after a three-day hearing on the matter was held Sept. 3, 4 and 6. ADA Janie Swinehart, supervisor of the Juvenile Unit, presented testimony. Torres also underwent a psychological evaluation from a court-appointed expert as part of the decertification process.  

Judges must consider multiple factors before transferring criminal cases involving juveniles to the juvenile system including the impact of the offense on victims and the community, the threat to safety of the public, the nature and circumstances of the offense, the degree of the juvenile’s culpability, the adequacy and duration of dispositional alternatives and whether the juvenile is amenable to treatment.

“The nature of this crime has a severe impact on everyone involved because the loss is permanent,” Judge Hackman wrote in the ruling. The victim’s death “is a tragic loss not only for the victim and the victim’s family, but also for the community, and that it has severely impacted both of those factors.”

Columbia police found Serrano Jr., 19, with a single stab wound in the 200 block of N. Third Street shortly before midnight Aug. 14, 2023. Serrano Jr. was taken to a local hospital where he died of his injuries.

Torres, who had called 911, was involved in a domestic dispute with Serrano before the stabbing.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.