Killer Kids: 10 Youngest Murderers In History

When we think of murderers and serial killers, horrifying fictional characters like Freddie Krueger and  Michael Myers come to mind.  However, when you think you’ve seen everything, you learn that there are child murderers and serial killers. These mentally ill children carry out murder(s) for the sake of psychological gratification. Here are the 10 youngest murderers in history.

1. Retta McCabe (4 Years Old)

According to archived reports,  Retta McCabe was described as a beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girl who occasionally becomes a monster that her family didn’t recognize and was deathly afraid of. Her parents and psychologist would recall the “demonic malevolence” that seemed to replace the laughing eyes of the little girl when she was angered in any way. She was a real-life Jekyll and Hyde.

Retta was playing on the floor of the home she shared with her parents and siblings when she stood up, grabbed her infant brother, and threw him violently onto the floor. Before anyone could react or do anything to help the infant boy, Retta jumped onto her brother’s torso and continued to stomp and beat him until she was eventually pulled off of him by her parents. Though the young boy was rushed to the hospital, a week later. When told her younger brother had died, Retta laughed with glee.

A few weeks later, Retta situated herself on the railroad tracks in front of the local train station. She was trying with all of her might to allow a train to hit her, but the locals kept that from becoming reality until the police arrived and removed her to safety. Though the girl was tiny and only four years old, she was so outraged and out of control, the officers had no other choice but to lock her in a cell in order to keep everyone safe.

2. Carl Newton Mahan (6 Years Old)

Carl Newton Mahan was a good boy that loved being outdoors and playing with his friends, until May 18. 1929, when he went from an innocent little boy to one of the youngest murderers in history. Then six-year-old Carl trying to make a little pocket money, ran to his friend, eight-year-old Cecil Van Hoose, and asked him to join in hunting for scrap metal that they could sell to the local scrapyard. When Carl came upon what he knew would be a good-paying piece of scrap metal, he picked it up and proudly showed it to Cecil. Cecil responded by taking the metal from Carl and smacking the young boy in the face when he complained about it.

In a fury, Carl ran to the home he shared with his parents and siblings. Dragging a chair over in front of the cabinet, on top of which, his father stored his guns. The little boy reached for the 12 gauge shotgun, retrieved it, and hastily left his house in search of Cecil. The moment the six-year-old saw Cecil, he told the boy he was going to shoot him and then promptly followed through, killing the young boy instantly.

Carl was arrested for the murder of his friend, Cecil Van Hoose, and was put on trial. After telling his side of the story to awestruck jurors in a packed courtroom, he climbed on the table and slept throughout the rest of the trial. The Jury found him guilty of the crime but chose the lesser charge of manslaughter. The presiding judge immediately passed a sentence of fifteen years in reform school upon the tiny six-year-old boy. He was however released to his parents on a $500 bail.

3. Amarjeet Sada (8 Years Old)

Amarjeet Sada is not just one of the youngest murderers in history but the world’s youngest serial killer. He was an 8-year-old boy who lived in a tiny village in Bihar, India, when he was arrested for murdering three children. In 2006  at just seven years old, Amarjeet committed his first murder killing his six-year-old cousin when he hit her with bricks and strangled her.  Just a few short months later, Amarjeet would repeat the violence shown towards his cousin to his eight-month-old little sister, killing her in the process.

Neither brutal death was reported to authorities, the family preferring to keep the knowledge of those deaths a closely guarded family secret. One year later, in 2007, a six-month-old little daughter of a neighbor of the Sada family went missing.  With no traces of her, Amarjeet’s family stepped forward with the possibility that  Amarjeet had done something to the infant girl.  One of the villagers called the police while the rest of the small community held Amarjeet until the police arrived.

Amarjeet immediately admitted to killing the infant in the same manner he had killed his two previous victims, by throwing bricks at her and strangling her with his hands. When police took Amarjeet into custody, he readily admitted to all three of the murders and took great joy in leading the officers to where he had crudely attempted to bury the baby. He however faced no prison or jail time but was placed in a children’s home until his eighteenth birthday. Upon his release, Amarjeet simply vanished and his whereabouts unknown.

4. Mary Bell (11 years old)

Mary Flora Bell was eleven years old when she made headlines for murdering two preschool-age boys in Scotswood, an inner suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, in 1968. On 25 May 1968, the day before her 11th birthday, Bell committed her first murder strangling four-year-old Martin Brown in an upstairs bedroom of a derelict house located at 85 St. Margaret’s Road. She is believed to have committed this crime alone. Brown’s body was discovered by three children at approximately 3:30 p.m. He was lying on his back with his arms stretched above his head.

On the afternoon of 31 July 1968, a three-year-old named Brian Howe was last seen by his parents in the street outside his house playing with one of his siblings, the family dog, and Mary Bell and Norma Bell. When he did not return home later that afternoon, concerned relatives and neighbors searched the streets without success. At 11:10 p.m., a search party discovered Brian’s body between two large concrete blocks upon the “Tin Lizzie”.

On the advice of her Mother, Mary Bell confessed to both murders and was convicted of manslaughter in relation to both killings in December 1968, in a trial held at Newcastle Assizes when she was 11 years old.  Her actions were judged to have been committed under diminished responsibility.  Norma Bell, her accomplice in the killing of Brian Howe was acquitted of all charges. Mary Bell remains Britain’s youngest female killer and was diagnosed with a psychopathic personality disorder prior to her trial.

5. Jasmine Richardson  (12 years old)

Jasmine Richardson was a Canadian serial Killer who made headlines for murdering her entire family in 2006 at the age of 12, making her one of the youngest murderers in history.  Three members of the Richardson family Richardson, 42,  Debra, 48, and Tyler Jacob, were murdered in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada in April 2006.  As earlier stated the murders were planned and committed by the family’s 12-year-old daughter Jasmine Richardson and her 23-year-old boyfriend Jeremy Steinke.

According to friends of Jasmine, Richardson’s parents had grounded her from dating Steinke due to the age disparity. Her friends had also criticized their relationship. Shortly after her arrest, Steinke asked her to marry him, and she agreed.  According to friends of Steinke, he told them he was a 300-year-old vampire. He allegedly told his friends that he liked the taste of blood, and wore a small vial of blood around his neck.

Jasmine and Steinke were each convicted on three counts of first-degree murder. Richardson, who had turned 13 before being convicted, is thought to be the youngest person in Canada ever convicted of multiple first-degree murder counts.  In 2007, She was sentenced to the maximum allowed under law for someone her age, 10 years imprisonment which was completed on May 6, 2016.

6. Craig Price (13 years old)

Craig Chandler Price is an American serial killer who committed a series of murders in Warwick, Rhode Island between the ages of 13 and 15, making him one of the youngest murderers in history. He is also known as the “Warwick Slasher” & “Iron Man” due to the brutality of his crime and his hulking teenage body.

Craig committed his first murder at the age of 13 in Warwick, Rhode Island on the night of July 27, 1987. He broke into a home that was only two houses away from his own whereupon he took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed 27-year-old Rebecca Spencer 58 times, killing her in her sleep.

On September 1, 1989, after smoking marijuana laced with LSD, he found himself at Joan Heaton’s house, a 39-year-old woman with two children. He stab Joan 57 times, and her 10-year-old daughter Jennifer 62 times, and crushed the skull of Heaton’s 7-year-old daughter Melissa, after inflicting 30 stab wounds on her.

Following a series of investigations by the local authority, Craig was arrested a month just shy of his 16th birthday, making him the youngest serial killer in history. He confessed to the murder of  Heatons and Rebbecca, stating that Rebbeca’s brother Carl, who was a white man used the derogatory racial slur on him and his friends while they were playing in the street. He was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and two counts of burglary.

7. Michael Hernandez  (14 years old)

Michael Hernadez is a 14-year-old boy who was convicted of the first-degree murder of Jaime Gough, a fourteen-year-old middle school student, and attempted first-degree murder of another thirteen-year-old middle school student in 2008. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder and to a consecutive term of thirty years for attempted first-degree murder.

Michael Hernandez was an eighth-grade student in a gifted program at Southwood Middle School when he committed the said crimes. According to reports, He first convinced Jamie Gouh the deceased victim to join him in the bathroom before stabbing him in the neck and on the face. He then sliced his throat open.

Hernandez normally did not wear a hat or jacket. Once inside the bathroom that morning, however, he donned a hat, jacket, and latex gloves. He later explained that the hat was intended to keep hair follicles from falling on the crime scene; the jacket, which could easily be removed and hidden, was intended to keep blood off his shirt; and the gloves were intended to prevent palm prints and fingerprints.

According to Dr. Steven Hoge, the defense’s psychiatrist, Hernandez decided to kill J.G. and A.M. because they knew he intended to kill others when he turned eighteen.

8. Cindy Collier and Shirley Wolf  (15 and 14 years old)

Cindy Collier and Shirley Wolf are two teenagers who made headlines in the summer of 1983, for killing an elderly lady of 85 years in an attempt to steal her car.  After killing her they did not steal anything, but write in their diary that it was “fun.”  The two teenagers who were victims of child rape held strong resentment toward all people.

They met at a correctional institution and formed a strong bond. According to a report, They recognize themselves in one another, and so their behavior seems “normal” to them.  After only a few hours of meeting, they planned a life together, on the road. Cindy, however, said that they will need a car to get away, she suggest they steal one and also kill the owner otherwise this would alert the police.

The duo attacked their victim Anna Brackett, in her house, after getting in in the guise of using her phone. They stabbed her at least 28 times but did not steal the car and carry out their plan of escape, But instead went back to  Cindy’s house. The Police during the investigation separate the two girls for questioning, but Cindy confessed once saying “It was us” They were subjected to a trial and are given the maximum penalty for juveniles: imprisonment up to their 25th birthday.

9. James Fairweather (15 Years Old)

James Fairweather was a 15-year-old teenager when he was convicted of murdering two strangers in frenzied attacks, taking the ninth place in our list of the youngest murderers in history. According to reports James claimed he was  “turned on” by serial killers and researched Ian Huntley, Myra Hindley, and Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, of whom he had a picture on his phone.

He stated that his favorite serial killer was American Ted Bundy, who sexually assaulted, murdered, and decapitated his victims. Reports also have it that he wanted to emulate the serial killers he idolized and fantasized about killing his headteacher and parents.

He however committed his first murder at the age of 15 stabbing a 33-year-old man named  James Attfield, 102 times in a park in Colchester, Essex, in March 2014. Three months later he knifed a Saudi student named Nahid Almanea, as she walked along a nature trail in the town.

He was hunting a third victim when he was caught by police. While on trial he claimed he was possessed by the devil and heard voices that compelled him to kill. He was however charged with the two murders and was sentenced to life with a minimum of 27 years in prison.

10 Alyssa Bustamante  (15 years old)

Concluding our list of the 10 youngest murderers in history is Alyssa Bustamante a  15-Year-Old murderer who slaughtered her nine-year-old neighbor just for the thrill of it. According to reports, Alyssa seemed like a normal teenager until she murdered her neighbor Elizabeth Olten in cold blood in 2009  She was raised by her grandparents. Her mother, Michelle Bustamante, had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, which led to criminal charges and jail time. Her father, Caesar Bustamante, was serving jail time for assault. Despite the setbacks of her parents, Alyssa became an A and B student in high school.

Four houses down from the Bustamante family lived nine-year-old Elizabeth Olten. She often came over to play with Alyssa and her siblings. On the night she was killed, Otlen did not return after begging her mother to go play at Alyssa’a house. The day after Elizabeth’s disappearance, FBI agents questioned Alyssa and seized her diary, where she expressed how pretty enjoyable she felt, killing Elizabeth Olten.

The Authorities also found a shallow grave covered with leaves behind Alyssa’s house Elizabeth’s body was inside. Prosecutors charged Alyssa with first-degree murder and arrested her.  In court, Alyssa confessed to killing Elizabeth Olten. She said she strangled Elizabeth before cutting the girl’s throat and stabbing her in the chest and buried her victim’s body in the hand-dug, shallow grave behind their homes.  She accepted a plea deal to the lesser charge of second-degree murder to avoid the death penalty. As part of the plea deal, she may get out of jail in 30 years on parole.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_youngest_killers
• https://vocal.media/criminal/killer-kids
• https://allthatsinteresting.com/alyssa-bustamante