SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A Saline County judge has ruled that statements a teenager gave to investigators hours after her sister was killed can be admitted at trial.

Judge Patrick Thompson ruled Wednesday that statements Sierra Niehaus made to four investigators over a period of nearly 15 hours will be allowed at her first-degree murder trial this fall.

Niehaus, now 15, is charged as an adult with first-degree murder in the August 2014 stabbing death of her 13-year-old sister, Galazia, at their family’s home in Saline County.

The Salina Journal reports the judge ruled that statements then 14-year-old Niehaus gave to law enforcement in the hours after her younger sister was found stabbed to death were “freely and voluntarily given.”

The judge ruled earlier that Niehaus will be tried as an adult.