PROVO — A Spanish Fork man charged with murder for allegedly assisting in a teenage girl's suicide now faces new charges of having child pornography on his phone at the time of his arrest.

Tyerell Przybycien, 18, was charged Wednesday in 4th District Court with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.

Police obtained a warrant to search two of Przybycien's phones for photos or videos related to the teenage girl's death. On one phone, they found pornographic images of young girls, at least five of which appeared to be under the age of 5, court documents state.

A girl who spoke to police about the death provided them with a conversation with Przybycien, in which he said he "had an issue with child pornography," according to charging documents.

Asked about the images, police said Przybycien told investigators he "was struggling with child pornography."

In court last week, prosecutors asked that bail for Przybycien be increased from $20,000 to $500,000 cash, partly in light of the child pornography allegations and evidence suggesting Przybycien was viewing the images shortly after Jchandra Brown, 16, died. A judge granted the request.

Przybycien was arrested May 6 after police say he helped Jchandra prepare to kill herself, then recorded with a cellphone while she did, never trying to help the girl.

Przybycien is charged with murder, a first-degree felony, and desecration of a human body, a class B misdemeanor.

Hunters found Jchandra hanging from a rope near Maple Lake in Payson on May 6.

Related:

Charges: 'I helped her do it,' said man accused of filming friend's suicide

After police say he videotaped his 16-year-old friend kill herself, a Spanish Fork man now charged with murder allegedly texted another friend saying, "I helped her do it."

Two plastic grocery bags and a can of industrial strength air duster were located near the body containing a cellphone and a handwritten suicide note identifying Jchandra and referring to a video on her phone "to answer questions about what happened," as well as a receipt for the purchase of a rope that listed Przybycien's name on the credit card information, charging documents state.

According to the charges, during the approximately 10- to 11-minute cellphone video, Przybycien is seen checking the girl's pulse and talking to her every once in a while to see if she has died.

Przybycien returned to the area while investigators were at the scene, telling them he picked up his friend from work Friday night, had purchased the air duster and the rope, drove the victim to the location, helped tie a noose, and recorded while the girl fell unconscious and died, according to the charges.

Przybycien returns to court May 30.

Przybycien and Jchandra were both students at Spanish Fork High School, although Przybycien hadn't attended since March.

The family has created a fundraiser page on Facebook for those wishing to contribute to funeral expenses for the teen.

The Utah Department of Health offers suicide prevention help at utahsuicideprevention.org/suicide-prevention-basic. The national crisis hotline is 1-800-784-2433.

#suicide_prevention

Related topics