TAMPA, FL -- A teenager accused of taking part in the murder of a Tampa man and then showing off the body to friends will be held without bond.
16-year-old Amer Ejak was moved from juvenile detention to the Orient Road Jail Monday night and now faces first-degree murder charges as an adult.
He was ordered held without bail by Hillsborough County Judge Walter Heinrich on Tuesday morning.
Investigators Ejak and 22-year-old Christopher Cox killed 34-year-old Thomas Johannesen in his apartment on either September 10 or 11. Cox allegedly told Ejak to hit Johannesen in the head with a whiskey bottle.
Detectives say Ejak hit the victim and he fell to the floor. The men then moved the victim to the couch.
Ejak put a plastic bag over Johannesen's head and a belt around his neck. After he had died, the two moved his body into a closet and covered it with clothes, according to a police statement.
Before they left, the men stole Johannesen's cell phone, sneakers, and house keys.
Sometime later, investigators say Ejak and Cox asked two people if they had ever seen a dead body, then brought them to the apartment and showed them. One of those people told a third person, who then called authorities.
Johannesen's parents had called the Sheriff's Office from New York after they had not been able to reach him for several days.
Detectives went to the apartment on September 12 after being called by maintenance workers and found Johannesen dead after obtaining a search warrant.
