In front of a packed hearing room on the fourth floor of the Lehigh County Courthouse, District Judge Michael Faulkner ruled Orefield Middle School eighth grader Jamie Lynn Silvonek, 14, and her boyfriend Caleb Barnes, 21, will face trial for the March 15 death of Jamie Lynn's mother, Cheryl.

"The commonwealth has met its burden of proof," Faulkner said, after the four-hour preliminary hearing during which Deputy District Attorney Jeff Dimmig presented evidence and testimony.

Jamie Lynn Silvonek and Barnes, a U.S. Army Specialist 4 stationed at Fort Meade, Md., are charged with criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.

The prosecution presented five witnesses and submitted multiple items into evidence in an attempt to create a timeline and provide the necessary proof for the case to move to the trial phase.

The most emotional time in the courtroom came when the eighth-grade best friend of Jamie Lynn Silvonek testified for the prosecution.

Upon seeing her friend, Jamie Lynn Silvonek lowered her head and sobbed.

The young girl gave an account of her interaction with Jamie Lynn Silvonek the weekend prior to the killings.

The girl stated she spent the afternoon of March 7 with her friend. The witness testified Jamie Lynn Silvonek told her she and Barnes spent the prior night in her basement.

The friend testified Jamie Lynn Silvonek allegedly told her she and Barnes had consensual sex that night.

Allegedly, Jamie also told her Cheryl Silvonek caught them in the basement Saturday morning and threw Barnesout of the house.

The witness said Jamie Lynn Silvonek seemed like her regular self when she arrived at the Silvonek home that day, but later allegedly mentioned killing her parents, an idea she quickly warned her friend against.

That afternoon and evening Jamie Lynn Silvonek and Barnes allegedly had two cell phone conversations, which the witness stated she heard over speakerphone.

She testified Jamie Lynn Silvonek and Barnes allegedly discussed killing her parents and then living off the life insurance money.

She stated at one point Barnes allegedly said he had picked out the knives.

Between phone calls, however, the friend said she and Jamie Lynn Silvonek ate dinner with Cheryl Silvonek, watched TV, talked and even danced around the kitchen table.

"She was just regular Jamie," the girl testified.

When Jamie Lynn Silvonek allegedly texted her the following day saying she was just kidding about killing her parents and repeated the same thing to her during the school week, the girl said she believed her.

"I never thought she was able to do something like that," testified the eighth grader. "We were best friends and I believed her when she said it was a joke."