We all know of Ted Bundy, Ed Gein, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy—some of the most notorious serial killers of the 20th century. These murderers have even inspired movies and TV shows based on their callous acts. Their victims suffered gruesome killings, and the public understood that although the killers might have faced psychological problems, they were still adults.
But what happens when the killers haven't even hit puberty? Murder can be an act so horrific and inconceivable that many of us fail to understand why someone would do it—some of us even forget that there is no age limit to becoming a killer. There are teens and youth who seek out their victims and take their lives brutally and violently, sometimes without remorse and in ways we can barely believe. From cooking a victim’s flesh and poisoning their family to stabbing their neighbors and killing for the “fun” of it, here are 15 killer kids whose stories will keep you up at night.
Jesse Pomeroy
Accused of luring young boys into the local woods where he would then beat them with his fist, belt or a knife, Jesse Pomeroy is alleged to have killed nine people. He began to torture other children when he was only 11 years old. During the winter and fall of 1871, Pomeroy trapped and attacked seven younger boys. Pomeroy would strip and tie the boys up, severely beating them, sometimes even poking pins into their flesh. He had distinguishable features—a harelip and one completely white eye—so identifying him was easy. He was eventually caught and was sent to reform school; he was supposed to stay until he reached the age of 18 but was released after he completed a year and a half of his sentence.
Once released, Pomeroy didn't just want to inflict pain, he wanted to kill. The deaths that finally put him in prison were that of a 10-year-old girl—Mary Curran—from South Boston, found in his basement, and a four-year-old boy—Horace Mullen—found mutilated near a marsh. At the time of his arrest, Pomeroy was 14 and confessed to the murder of Mullen; when police asked him if he killed the boy, Pomeroy replied, "I suppose I did." Eventually, Pomeroy confessed to having a total of 27 other victims—police discovered the remains of 12 other bodies in his old home. When convicted of first-degree murder, Pomeroy, also known as “The Boston Boy Fiend”, became the youngest person convicted of first-degree murder in the state of Massachusetts.
Mary Bell
It's really no surprise that Mary Bell turned out the way she did. Her mother was a 17-year-old prostitute when she had Mary and was often absent from their home during Mary's childhood. Betty Bell—Mary's mother—married Billy Bell although it is unclear if he was Mary's biological father. Billy was a habitual criminal often arrested for robbery. The Bell home was located in the economically depressed Scotswood area of Newcastle where domestic violence and criminal behavior were the norm. It's no surprise that Mary quickly began engaging in her own crimes: attacks on other children, vandalism, and theft. It didn't take long before Mary started searching for heavier crimes.
Related: 12 Creepy Kids Books That Scarred Us for Life
Mary Bell committed the first of two shocking murders on the day before her 11th birthday. In May of 1968, Mary strangled a four-year-old boy in a derelict house before leaving notes claiming responsibility in a nursery she and a friend had broken into. A month later and joined by that same friend, Mary strangled a three-year-old boy in the same area as the first killing. She returned to the body and carved an “M” into the boy’s stomach, along with scratching his legs and mutilating his genitals. Mary was convicted of manslaughter and released in 1980. She made headlines again after being released from prison and won a High Court battle to have her own anonymity and that of her daughter's extended for life. As a result, any court order that permanently protects the identity of someone is known as a "Mary Bell order".
Charlie Starkweather
Charles "Charlie" Starkweather was brought up in a respectable home with well-behaved siblings—he was the third of seven. In contrast, Starkweather's time in school was unpleasant because he was often teased and bullied for his limitations: he was born with genu varum (a leg disformity), a speech impediment, and also suffered from severe myopia. The only place he excelled was gym class, and he began to bulk up as a result. With his newfound physique, Starkweather transformed from bullied to bully and went from the most well-behaved teenager to the most troubled student. By 1956, 18-year-old Starkweather was introduced to Caril Ann Fugate, who was 13 at the time, and the two quickly hit it off. Gradually, Charlie convinced himself that he had to become a criminal in order to gain money and respect.
On December 1957, Charlie committed his first murder and at once felt euphoric and peaceful. The day after Charlie robbed and murdered his first victim, Robert Colvert, he admitted everything to Caril. This confession caused their bond to become even more intense. It would also lead to their mass-murdering road trip, Charlie—19 years old at this time—along with his 14-year-old girlfriend, carried out the two-month spree that inspired films like Kalifornia and Natural Born Killers.
The teens strangled, stabbed, sexually assaulted, and shot 11 different victims between December 1957 and January 1958 across the states of Nebraska and Wyoming, including his girlfriend’s family. The day of their final murder the duo ran into law enforcement, and Starkweather’s girlfriend confessed, resulting in their high-speed capture. Starkweather was sentenced to death by electric chair 17 months after he was arrested.
Jordan Brown
On February 20, 2009, the then 11-year-old Jordan Brown murdered his father’s 26-year-old fiancée Kenzie Houk, who was eight months pregnant at the time—her unborn son was also killed. While the soon-to-be mother was sleeping in her bed in their New Beaver, Pennsylvania farmhouse, Brown shot her in the back of the head using a gun given to him by his father. Houk’s youngest daughter alerted nearby adults to the situation after Brown had gotten on the school bus. Police arrived later that day to find a shotgun in the house with the smell of burnt gunpowder.
Jordan was interviewed by Pennsylvania State Police twice the day of the incident before being arrested the following morning. It was later confirmed that Houk was killed by a youth-model Harrington & Richardson 20-gauge shotgun. Prosecutors speculated that Brown killed his stepmother because he was angered by the pending birth of a new sibling and was jealous about the attention his stepsisters received. Initially, Brown was to be tried as an adult but was eventually found guilty of first-degree murder as a juvenile. In 2018, Brown was exonerated as the court determined that the evidence could have been planted by an unknown assailant, and thus was insufficient to find him culpable beyond a reasonable doubt.
Cindy Collier & Shirley Wolf
On the day that 14-year old Shirley Wolf helped murder a great-grandmother in her condominium, Wolf wrote in her journal: “Today, Cindy and I ran away and killed an old lady. It was lots of fun.” Wolf had known 15-year-old Cindy Collier less than a day when they decided to knock on various doors of Collier’s condominium development in Auburn, California. The girls used their innocent demeanor to their advantage in order to get in the apartments of older residents—they used tactics like asking for directions, a glass of water, or to use the phone. Some of the senior citizens were not fooled and felt an unsettling presence when they met the girls; after two older women saw the girls, they immediately locked their windows and doors.
Related: Predicting A Killer: Do These Three Childhood Traits Really Point to Future Violence?
However, the kind and helpful Anna Brackett—an 86-year-old former seamstress—decided to invite the girls into her two-bedroom condo, unaware that it would cost her her life. After Brackett let them in, they brutally stabbed her for her car. Wolf grabbed Brackett by the throat and threw her to floor, while Collier handed her a knife from the kitchen. Wolf repeatedly stabbed her neck until she was dead. Before they left, the girls ransacked the condo for money and the car keys. No one could believe that the teenage girls were responsible for the heinous act but when the Placer County sheriff's deputies interviewed Wolf, she confessed within minutes. Later, Collier affirmed, “...after we did it, we wanted to do another one. We just wanted to kill someone. Just for fun.” The two were found guilty of first-degree murder.
Leopold and Loeb
Nathan Leopold and his lover Richard Loeb confessed to the kidnap and murder of Bobby Franks which they claimed to have committed solely for the experience. Before that incident, Leopold and Loeb had racked up a laundry list of crimes. By November 1923, Leopold and Loeb had already performed several burglaries together and set fires a few times. Their criminal behavior was fueled by Nietzsche's concept of 'The Superman.' Leopold was furious that their misdeeds had yet to earn them media attention, so the two spent seven months planning a bigger crime that would prove they weren’t just above the law—they were too smart to get caught.
They spent the winter months of 1924 planning the crime to the smallest detail: They would kidnap a child and ask for a $10,000 ransom. They had even decided how they would request the money. The wealthy University of Chicago students eventually kidnapped and murdered a 14-year-old boy in May 1924 as an affirmation of their intellectual supremacy.
The pair spent nearly two hours driving around the streets of the South Side of Chicago, looking for a possible victim until they spotted Bobby Franks. Franks was Loeb's cousin–he knew that Franks's father would be able to pay the ransom. After offering the boy a ride and taking a chisel to his head, they dumped his body. After a failed attempt to collect the ransom, a pair of glasses belonging to Leopold discovered near the body linked the murder to the boys. Leopold and Loeb were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison plus 99 years.
WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH 