PHOENIX — There are a lot of rumors and misinformation about the Preston Lord murder case being spread on social media.
12News is looking into some of the claims and verifying what is accurate and what is false.
Lord, 16, attended a Halloween party on Oct. 28, 2023, in a Queen Creek neighborhood and was later found lying in the road near 194th Street and Via Del Rancho Road.
Two days after being assaulted, Lord died of his injuries. Family said Lord had a severe brain injury.
Seven people, teens and adults, were indicted earlier this week on murder charges.
Are all the suspects eligible for the death penalty?
To verify this, we went to Arizona state law and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.
A spokesperson for the County Attorney said the death penalty is possible, but with conditions.
"If convicted, only the adult defendants could face the death penalty," the spokesperson wrote.
According to ARS 13-751, only suspects who were over the age of 18 when they committed a crime can be put to death. Juvenile offenders, even if they turned 18 before getting caught, can only be sentenced to life in prison under state law.
So we can verify no, not all murder suspects in the case are eligible for the death penalty.
Have any parents been arrested in connection with the Preston Lord case?
According to court and arrest records, one parent of a suspect has been arrested, but it was NOT for anything related to Preston Lord.
Travis Renner, Talan Renner's father, was indicted in February on drug charges. That was related to a separate search warrant served at his house for a different case involving an assault that happened in 2022.
So far, no parents have been charged with any crime in relation to the Preston Lord case.
Are the suspects members of the "Gilbert Goons"?
To verify this, we went to court records.
Six of the probable cause statements, which explain the evidence authorities have to arrest a suspect, are sealed, so we don't know what's in them.
The seventh, belonging to Treston Billey's case, is unsealed but gives no information about the case. It only explains what happened when Billey turned himself in. It does not mention the Gilbert Goons at all.
The indictment for all seven does not mention the Gilbert Goons either.
Because we can't see the probable cause statements for the six others, we have to mark this as "unconfirmed' until either the paperwork is unsealed or an allegation is made in court.