Police have identified the 14-year-old Toronto girl fatally stabbed on New Year's Day as Stefanie Rengel, who classmates described as a happy and friendly student.

Police released the name and a photo of the victim late Thursday afternoon after obtaining the consent of her parents, as required by the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Rengel is the daughter of a police officer at Scarborough's 42 Division and the stepdaughter of a sergeant with the Emergency Task Force, reports the Toronto Star.

Earlier Thursday, the lawyer representing one of the accused teenagers said that police claimed his 15-year-old client allegedly wished the victim dead.

Marshall Sack said the synopsis he received from the Crown makes no reference to his client's involvement in the actual crime.

"My client is alleged to have indicated at some point in time that she wanted the deceased not to be alive," Sack told reporters outside court.

"Beyond that I see nothing and that's not first-degree murder. All of us in our daily lives express feelings but very few of us know something is going to happen."

Sack said his client was not present when the deadly attack happened near Rengel's East York Home on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, police charged a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy with first-degree murder. They cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The accused appeared briefly in court on Wednesday again on Thursday. They have been remanded in custody until Jan. 16, when they will appear in court via video.

After Thursday's hearing, Sack wouldn't comment on the relationship between the victim and the suspects. He added his client is an "A-student" who comes from a good family.

He further said his client's parents are "devastated" and have sent their condolences to the victim's family.

Both the Crown and the boy's lawyer declined comment on Thursday.

Meanwhile, one of Rengel's classmates told CTV Toronto that he heard the accused boy say he would stab the victim. The suspect allegedly shouted the remark during a cellphone conversation in the hallway of their school.

Online tributes

Friends and family have posted warm thoughts and messages about Rengel on the popular social networking website Facebook.

The victim's stepmother posted an emotional farewell note online, saying Rengel will be sorely missed.

"To my beloved step daughter ... your dad and i are missing you terribly. our world will never be the same. we love you so very much and don't know how we will ever go on," wrote the stepmother.

"Your mother/brother and everyone else in the family are devastated. Know that both your parents, and brother were by your side at the hospital. Your grandparents are on their way home ... later today. Your other siblings, as young as they are miss you terribly.

"Thank you to all the friends/strangers out there for all the kind words. Let's together do something about changing this youth criminal justice act," she wrote, adding that she wanted the suspects to be tried as adults.

Friends and classmates posted messages describing Rengel as a bright and cheery girl who always had a smile on her face. They said the slain girl loved singing and the arts.

"She was like the nicest person in the world," one classmate told CTV Toronto. "You could have been mean to her and she still would have been the nicest person to you. She didn't care."

Students have been laying flowers at a makeshift memorial where the victim was killed.

Rengel was stabbed several times in the abdomen on a sidewalk near her East York home at about 6 p.m. on Tuesday. She later died in hospital.

A candlelight vigil and walk through Rengel's neighbourhood is being planned for Friday night, according to the Facebook memorial group.

A funeral has been scheduled for Sunday, but no other details have been released.

With reports from CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney and John Musselman and files from The Canadian Press