ALLENTOWN (AP) The father of an eighth-grade girl who is accused of conspiring with her soldier boyfriend by text message to have her mother killed said he believes his daughter "was led astray by a predator."

Fourteen-year-old Jamie Silvonek was charged as an adult in Lehigh County with homicide and criminal conspiracy in the death of 54-year-old Cheryl Silvonek last month. Her boyfriend, 21-year-old Caleb Barnes, is also charged with homicide.The victim's husband, David Silvonek, told The (Allentown) Morning Call Tuesday that he believes his daughter will eventually be acquitted of the charges."More than grief, there's the paralyzing fear for my daughter's future. I feel she should get a second chance," he said. "I love my daughter unconditionally. She was led astray by a predator."Cheryl Silvonek's body was found with stab wounds in a shallow grave about 50 miles northwest of Philadelphia, and her vehicle was partially submerged in a pond a few miles from the family home.Authorities said Barnes and the teenager met in October, when she was 13, but she told him she was 17. The teen's mother found out about their relationship in early March and ordered them to end it."Cheryl was trying to protect me, and protect Jamie," David Silvonek said. "She was the rock of our marriage. She did what any mother would do."Police allege that a day after her mother told her to end the relationship, the teen told Barnes in a text, "I want her gone."Silvonek, however, called the notion that she plotted her mother's murder "ridiculous.""She's been portrayed in the newspaper as somehow masterminding this," David Silvonek said. "A 13-year-old telling a 20-year-old what to do. Bottom line is, all this negativity came into our lives when this 20-year-old met my daughter."Defense attorney John Waldron has also cited the age difference in saying the teenager must have been under "some type of duress or coercion." He has said he will ask the court to send the case against her to juvenile court.David Silvonek said he believes that is what his wife would want."She'd be heartbroken right now," he said. "She was the world's greatest mom. She put her children first in every aspect of her life."District Attorney Jim Martin, however, says the case belongs in adult court. He said another juvenile reported having heard Jamie Silvonek talking on the phone to Barnes about killing her parents.