SAN DIEGO -- A teenager originally charged with the murder of 12-year-old Stephanie Crowe told a detective three weeks after the killing that a friend and the victim's older brother committed the crime.

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In a Feb. 10, 1998, interrogation, Joshua Treadway told Oceanside police Detective Chris McDonough that Aaron Houser gave him a knife a few days after the Jan. 20, 1998, murder and told him to "get rid of it."

"He told me that that was the knife used to kill (Michael's) sister," Treadway told the detective.

A videotape of the interrogation at the Escondido Police Department was shown by the defense to jurors hearing the case against Richard Tuite, a transient now on trial for allegedly killing the 12-year-old.

The detective asked why, hypothetically, Houser would tell police he got the knife from Treadway.

"Probably to save his own skin," Treadway responded.

Treadway, then 15, told the detective that he was afraid of Houser and didn't want to be in the same room with him.

Treadway said his mouth went dry when Houser told him he was involved with the murder.

"He said he helped (Michael) kill her," Treadway told McDonough.

Asked why Michael Crowe would want to kill his younger sibling, Treadway said he knew Michael Crowe was jealous and had developed "pure hatred" for his sister.

Treadway said Houser told him that Michael Crowe went into the girl's room to keep her quiet, and that Houser "said he took care of the rest."

Treadway told McDonough that Michael Crowe and Houser had planned the crime for weeks, but never thought they'd carry it out.

The two boys never used the word "kill" while discussing the plan, Treadway told the detective. "It never entered my mind that they would do something like this," Treadway said.

McDonough told Treadway that Houser and Michael Crowe had used him like a "little pawn."

Initially, Treadway told the detective that he wasn't at the Crowe residence the night of the murder.

After the killing, Michael Crowe called Treadway from the police station and told him that someone had broken into his house and killed his sister, Treadway told the detective.

Prosecutors said statements given by Treadway and Michael Crowe were coerced, and blood evidence points to Tuite as the killer.

Detectives initially interrogated Treadway for at least 10 hours beginning the night of Jan. 27, 1998, and ending the next morning.

Murder charges against the boys were dropped in 1999, after the victim's blood was found on a sweatshirt Tuite was wearing the night of the murder. Her blood also was found later on Tuite's white T-shirt.

Tuite, 34, was charged after the case was handed over to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and the state Attorney's General Office.

The defense contends the blood evidence was contaminated.

Prosecutors say Tuite -- a diagnosed schizophrenic -- was in the area of the Crowe residence the night of the murder, asking for a friend named "Tracy."

Evidence also has been presented that the defendant liked to carry a knife.