For the first time, Action News Jax is hearing from the girlfriend of a Nassau County teen who was stabbed to death just days before he was set to join the Marines.
Action News Jax spoke with Haley Hutto, who said she was in a relationship with Thomas Erdmann, who investigators said was stabbed in Fernandina Beach Monday.
Police said 19-year-old Erdmann was stabbed several times and taken to the hospital, where he later died. Investigators have charged 22-year-old Zachary Fila with murder.
According to reports from Fernandina Beach police, the two men knew each other and had been feuding over a girl for several weeks. Hutto said she never thought any confrontation between her boyfriend and someone she considered a friend would ever go this far. What makes it especially painful is that Fila is also Hutto's friend.
[ Photos: Man charged with teen's stabbing death in Fernandina Beach ]
“It's been hard because everybody's pointing the finger at me like it's my fault, and it's not my fault for any of this. Zack and Tommy, they were not friends, and I was Tommy's girlfriend, and whatever went on between Tommy and Zack was their own problems,” Hutto said.
Hutto said she was fighting with her boyfriend that night and had left before he was attacked and she admits to venting to her friend Fila about the fight.
"Zack was not there, I called him and talked to him," Hutto said. "There was no words being said of 'I hate Tommy' or this and that, like nothing was being said to make him do what happened."
Hutto shared a post on Facebook, saying she wanted to clear the air about the situation, and she gave Action News Jax permission to share that post.
[ Family raises money for mom to leave prison for son's funeral in Nassau County ]
"I just went home thinking that we just had a simple argument that it was just something like I said any relationship has," Hutto said. "His last message that he sent to me is him telling me that 'I love you, you are my first true love.'"
"I miss him just as much as everybody else and I had a bond with him that nobody else had. I was his girlfriend."
She thought she would wake up to more messages the next morning, but instead woke up hearing that he was in the hospital, where he eventually died.
Hutto's mom Misty said it's been tough for her daughter.
"Social media is just tearing her apart. This isn't something I would wish on my own worst enemy, to know your baby is hurting and there's nothing you can do."
Hutto said it's time for everyone to now come together.
"We should all come together and support each other about this tragedy."
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