Happy True Crime Thursday Guys!
I'm not going to lie to you, this weeks research was a bit rough.
It's hard enough to wrap your head around how a person can take another persons life, but when the killer is a child...it takes it to a whole other level.
This week I am discussing 3 cases, cases that involve Killer Kids.
Our first story absolutely broke my heart, it's the murder of James Bulger. James was with his mom at the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, England on the afternoon of February 12th, 1993.
At the same time Jon Venables and Robert Thompson both 10 years old, had decided to skip school that day and go to the same shopping mall. Surveillance videos show the 2 kids stealing various items like candy, a troll doll, some batteries and a can of blue paint. At some point the petty shoplifting wasn't enough and the 2 of them decided they wanted to abduct a child.
Soon they would find their victim. James' mother became temporarily distracted while inside a butcher shop, the boys took this opportunity to walk up to James, grab his hand and lead him out of the shopping center. This was all caught on camera as well. The boys walked 2.5 miles, and were seen by 38 people. Even though James was visually upset and crying most bystanders did nothing to intervene. And if they did confront them they were told that James was their younger brother.
They eventually reached the village of Walton, they were close to the police station so they decided to go up a steep bank instead, this led them to Walton & Anfield railway station, this is where they started torturing poor James. Some of the items that they had stolen earlier were used, they threw the blue paint into his eyes, put batteries into his mouth, kicked him, stomped on him, threw bricks and stones at him all leading up to them dropping a 22 lb iron bar on James. They then laid James' body across the railroad tracks and weighted his head down with rubble, they were hoping that when a train hit him it would make it look like an accident. They left the scene and 2 days later James' severed body was found. A forensic pathologist stated that he had died before he was struck by the train and that he suffered around 42 injuries total so it was difficult to determine which was the fatal one.
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The 2 boys were caught after being recognized in the videos when they were released to the public. They were found guilty on November 24, 1993 and became the youngest convicted murderers of the 20th century. They were released in 2001 after a parole board stated the boys were no longer a threat to society. After being released they were given new identities, moved to secret locations and were given strict guidelines. Never to be heard of by the public again.
On November 3, 1998, Maddie Clifton, age 8 was reported missing by her mother from their Lakewood neighborhood near Jacksonville Florida's south side. She had gone outside to play when she up and disappeared. The entire community came together in the hopes of finding Maddie, but she was never seen again.
The search ended a week later when the Mother of a boy named Josh Phillips (Age 14) went to clean his room when she noticed that his waterbed was leaking. Upon further examination she discovered Maddie's body hidden inside the base of the waterbed. She quickly ran outside and went across the street to get the police. He was arrested that day at school. Side note- could you imagine being his mom and coming across a body in your teenage sons room?!
According to Josh's account of what happened he stated that Maddie had come over to play some baseball outside. He agreed to this even though he wasn't allowed to have anyone over when his parents weren't there. He said Maddie had thrown the ball, he hit it and then the ball hit her in the eye. She started to bleed which caused her to start screaming and crying. Josh began to panic, he couldn't stand the thought of what his father would do to him if he found out about this. You see Josh's father was very abusive and would beat Josh if he did anything at all to upset him. Josh drug Maddie into his house and then into his room, he strangled her with a phone cord for about 15 minutes. Soon after that he hit her with the baseball bat and hid her under his bed. Soon after that Josh's father came home, Josh went and greeted him, the 2 interacted for a short while before Josh went back into his room. He discovered that Maddie was moaning under his bed, she was still alive. He removed the mattress and stabbed her 11 times, which this time killed her. He then stored her body in the base of his bed.
Josh had no prior history of violence or mental instability. The 14 year old was tried as an adult and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
This next story I'm going to give you more of a background story of what led up to this child's violence. Mary Bell's entry into the world wasn't an ideal one in May of 1957, her mother Betty was a 16 year old prostitute that told doctors to "take that thing away from me" when she saw her daughter.
Things only continued to get worse for Mary, when her mother was present (which wasn't very often) she would inflict mental and physical abuse upon Mary. Mary's Aunt witnessed Betty trying to give Mary away to a woman who had been unsuccessfully trying to adopt, she quickly got Mary back. According to later accounts by Mary, she said her mother began to pimp her out when she was just 4 years old, although there is nothing that proves this. Mary also witnessed at a young age her friend get run over and killed by a bus. With all of this happening to such a young girl would it be a surprise to anyone that by the age of 10 she became a very withdrawn child, and soon her behavior would turn much more sinister.
On May 11, 1968, Mary was playing with a 3 year old boy when he became badly injured from a fall. His parents just assumed it was an accident, kids get hurt all the time...no biggie right? Well it turned out that on the day following the incident 3 mothers came forward to tell the police that Mary had attempted to choke their young daughters. There was a brief interview and lecture, but nothing really came of it.
Then (pardon my language here) shit gets real weird with Mary. On May 25th, the day before her 11th birthday, Mary strangles a 4 year old boy by the name of Martin Brown to death in an abandoned home. She later returned with her friend Norma, but when they arrived there were 2 local boys that had been playing in the home when they came across Martins body. The police were troubled by the crime scene, there were no obvious signs of violence, just a small amount of blood and saliva found on Martins face. They found an empty bottle of painkillers near his body, they assumed that he swallowed those pills and ruled his death an accident. Days after Martin's death Mary showed up at his grieving families doorstep and asked to see him. Martins mom softly told Mary that Martin was dead, and you know what Mary friggin said?! That she already knew that, she just wanted to see his dead body in the coffin. Like I would do in this moment, Martin's mom slammed the door in her face.
Then shortly after this Mary and her little friend Norma decided to break into a nursery school, they vandalized it with notes claiming responsibility for the death of Martin Brown and saying it would happen again. Police decided this was nothing more than a sick prank. The nursery school decided to install an alarm system after this, it was a couple nights later that it caught Mary and Norma at the scene of the crime. When the police arrived they caught the girls loitering outside, they were let off the hook. Mary just couldn't help herself, she started bragging to her classmates that she was the one that killed Martin Brown. No one believed her since she had a history of being a pathological liar and a show off.
2 months after Martins death Mary and Norma killed 3 year old Brian Howe by strangulation, but this time it wasn't enough for Mary. She mutilated his body with scissors, scratching his thighs and butchering his penis. When the search was on to find Brian of course Mary and Norma offered to help look for the boy. Mary pointed out concrete blocks that hid his body, but Norma said he wouldn't be in there to Brian's sister, so the search moved on without checking it out.
When Brian's body was eventually discovered an autopsy was performed, the coroner noticed that someone had used a razor blade to carve the letter "M" onto his torso. What was most disturbing to them was that due to the lack of force the killer most likely would have been a child. Police soon discovered that the girls had been with Brian that day and when they questioned them about it their behavior was very odd. To add to their suspicions Mary was seen on the day of Brian's burial outside of his house, laughing and rubbing her hands together when she saw his coffin.
Soon the girls started to break down after further questioning. Norma said that yes she was present, but the murder was all Mary. While Mary said that the blame was all on Norma.
They were both charged. Mary was found guilty of Manslaughter, not murder. The court Psychiatrists stated that Mary showed "classic symptoms of psychopathy" and could not be held fully responsible for her actions. Norma was acquitted. The judge deemed Mary has a dangerous person and sentenced her to be imprisoned indefinitely, basically meaning until the powers feel that it's time for you to be let out. Mary was let out in 1980 under strict probational guidelines and had to live under several different identities.
Wowzer these sound like they were pulled straight from a horror movie.
See you guys next week!
This next story I'm going to give you more of a background story of what led up to this child's violence. Mary Bell's entry into the world wasn't an ideal one in May of 1957, her mother Betty was a 16 year old prostitute that told doctors to "take that thing away from me" when she saw her daughter. Things only continued to get worse for Mary, when her mother was present (which wasn't very often) she would inflict mental and physical abuse upon Mary. Mary's Aunt witnessed Betty trying to give Mary away to a woman who had been unsuccessfully trying to adopt, she quickly got Mary back. According to later accounts by Mary, she said her mother began to pimp her out when she was just 4 years old, although there is nothing that proves this. Mary also witnessed at a young age her friend get run over and killed by a bus. With all of this happening to such a young girl would it be a surprise to anyone that by the age of 10 she became a very withdrawn child, and soon her behavior would turn much more sinister.
On May 11, 1968, Mary was playing with a 3 year old boy when he became badly injured from a fall. His parents just assumed it was an accident, kids get hurt all the time...no biggie right? Well it turned out that on the day following the incident 3 mothers came forward to tell the police that Mary had attempted to choke their young daughters. There was a brief interview and lecture, but nothing really came of it.
Then (pardon my language here) shit gets real weird with Mary. On May 25th, the day before her 11th birthday, Mary strangles a 4 year old boy by the name of Martin Brown to death in an abandoned home. She later returned with her friend Norma, but when they arrived there were 2 local boys that had been playing in the home when they came across Martins body. The police were troubled by the crime scene, there were no obvious signs of violence, just a small amount of blood and saliva found on Martins face. They found an empty bottle of painkillers near his body, they assumed that he swallowed those pills and ruled his death an accident. Days after Martin's death Mary showed up at his grieving families doorstep and asked to see him. Martins mom softly told Mary that Martin was dead, and you know what Mary friggin said?! That she already knew that, she just wanted to see his dead body in the coffin. Like I would do in this moment, Martin's mom slammed the door in her face.
Then shortly after this Mary and her little friend Norma decided to break into a nursery school, they vandalized it with notes claiming responsibility for the death of Martin Brown and saying it would happen again. Police decided this was nothing more than a sick prank. The nursery school decided to install an alarm system after this, it was a couple nights later that it caught Mary and Norma at the scene of the crime. When the police arrived they caught the girls loitering outside, they were let off the hook. Mary just couldn't help herself, she started bragging to her classmates that she was the one that killed Martin Brown. No one believed her since she had a history of being a pathological liar and a show off.
2 months after Martins death Mary and Norma killed 3 year old Brian Howe by strangulation, but this time it wasn't enough for Mary. She mutilated his body with scissors, scratching his thighs and butchering his penis. When the search was on to find Brian of course Mary and Norma offered to help look for the boy. Mary pointed out concrete blocks that hid his body, but Norma said he wouldn't be in there to Brian's sister, so the search moved on without checking it out.
When Brian's body was eventually discovered an autopsy was performed, the coroner noticed that someone had used a razor blade to carve the letter "M" onto his torso. What was most disturbing to them was that due to the lack of force the killer most likely would have been a child. Police soon discovered that the girls had been with Brian that day and when they questioned them about it their behavior was very odd. To add to their suspicions Mary was seen on the day of Brian's burial outside of his house, laughing and rubbing her hands together when she saw his coffin.
Soon the girls started to break down after further questioning. Norma said that yes she was present, but the murder was all Mary. While Mary said that the blame was all on Norma.
They were both charged. Mary was found guilty of Manslaughter, not murder. The court Psychiatrists stated that Mary showed "classic symptoms of psychopathy" and could not be held fully responsible for her actions. Norma was acquitted. The judge deemed Mary has a dangerous person and sentenced her to be imprisoned indefinitely, basically meaning until the powers feel that it's time for you to be let out. Mary was let out in 1980 under strict probational guidelines and had to live under several different identities.
Wowzer these sound like they were pulled straight from a horror movie.
See you guys next week!
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