#killer teens

"Mr. Big" is an undercover investigative procedure developed and used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in order to elicit confessions from (mostly) murder suspects. The procedure consists of a police officer living undercover for a period of time, gradually gaining the trust of a suspect by getting them to aid in small criminal acts, and then eventually persuading them to share information and details on past crimes under the guise of building and maintaining more trust. The Mr. Big technique has been heavily criticised in Canada. Two of the youngest people to have been convicted due to a Mr. Big investigation are Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns, who were 18-years-old when Atif's family were murdered and they became law enforcement's prime suspects. Atif and Sebastian had been best friends, going to school together in Vancouver, Canada. During the last half of his final year in high school, Atif's family relocated across the border to Washington due to his father's career. Not wanting to start over at a new school or graduate without his friends, Atif made the decision to stay behind and finish the school year in Vancouver. Later that summer, the two friends went to Washington together to visit the Rafay family. And on the night of July 14, 1994, just under a week after they first arrived, Atif's family were murdered in their home. His mother, father and disabled sister had been blugeoned to death. Police immediately suspected the boys of the crime, though they were adament they'd been out at a movie before heading home to discover the carnage. It didn't help their case that right after calling the police both boys were observed displaying what has been described as odd and nonchalant behaviour, or that the family shower drain was full of blood that had been attempted to be washed away and full of hair only consistent with Sebastian Burns, or that the boys soon fled back to Vancouver and began spending Atif's inheritance indiscriminately. That's where Mr. Big came into the case, and months later the boys both confessed to the triple homicide. Still, even after their confessions and arrests, Sebastian and Atif maintained their innocence, claiming they'd been coerced into confessing. After nearly a decade of challenging and messy extradition trials, the boys, now grown men, were convicted of three counts of aggravated murder and were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Washington's state penitentiary. While Sebastian has been in and out of trouble in prison, Atif Rafay continues to speak out about his innocence and hopes to appeal his conviction.

Soon after Smiley’s murder, another woman in the neighborhood had been repeatedly stabbed by an intruder, although she survived. Giles claimed responsibility for this attack too, but the victim was convinced she’d been assaulted by a black man. So Giles was only charged for his grandmother’s death. He pled guilty and in 2000 was sentenced to 30 years behind bars.

On the night of November 14, 1997, 14-year-old Reena Virk was murdered by two of her peers following a beating at the Craigflower Bridge in Victoria, British Columbia. Prior to the beating and murder, Reena had been a rather shy girl, desperate to make friends with a group of girls she deemed “cool” - particularly a girl named Nicole Cook. After spending some time together in a group home, Reena was sure that she had made it into Nicole’s group, but the friendship became rocky shortly after it began. It is alleged that Reena had stolen a phonebook from Nicole in order to call up her other friends and spread rumours about her. Out of revenge for the phonebook incident, Reena was invited to a party by the Craigflower Bridge under the guise of being friends again. Once there, she was ambushed by at least six other girls, including Nicole Cook, and was verbally abused as well as repeatedly punched, slapped and kicked while several other teens stood by and watched. In one especially cruel instance of abuse, Nicole even stubbed out a lit cigarette on Reena’s forehead, and attempted to set her hair on fire. When the beating ended, Reena was left to walk home on her own. She was followed, however, by two teens who’d witnessed and participated in the original attack - Kelly Ellard and Warren Glowatski. The two grabbed Reena and dragged her to the underside of the bridge, where they beat her up again. Kelly Ellard then knocked Reena out by smashing her face into a tree and held her head under water until she drowned. Her body was found a week later. Those who had witnessed and/or participated in the original attack made a pact to not “rat” on anyone if the police came around to ask questions, though two sisters from the group home that Nicole lived in decided to call the police after they’d been told what happened. Warren Glowatski was convicted of second degree murder but was eligable for parole after seven years due to being a minor at the time of the crime. He was released from prison in June of 2010. As for Kelly Ellard, she was convicted twice in three separate trials. In the third, in 2005, she was given a life sentence for second degree murder. (Under The Bridge: The True Story Of The Murder Of Reena Virk by Rebecca Godfrey is a really great read, for those interested in learning the full details about this case.)

Johnathon Madden was just 12-years-old when he was brutally murdered by his 16-year-old brother Kevin on November 25, 2003, in Toronto, Canada. Kevin Madden and two of his friends (one unidentified in the media; the other, Timothy Ferriman) were home alone on the afternoon of the murder and had been drinking alcohol and trashing the Madden family home with broken beer bottles and a baseball bat in between playing video games. Soon after the debauchery had started, Timothy gave Kevin a butcher knife from the kitchen, which Kevin then used to attack his little brother. Johnathon was sliced a total of 71 times in the face and neck, and he drowned in his own blood. The boys then hid Johnathon's body in the basement, awaiting the return of Kevin and Johnathon's step-father. The man had barely gotten into the house before the boys attacked him with the knife and baseball bat. Though injured, he was able to flee the house and call 911. The boys hide out in a nearby park and were apprehended the next morning. While on trial, Kevin Madden was quoted as callously remarking that those who hadn't known his brother "should not be concerned about what happened to him". He was convicted of first degree murder, as well as attempted murder on his step-father, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Timothy Ferriman was convicted of manslaughter and, because of his expressed remorse during his trial, was sentenced to serve his time in a youth facility (whereas Kevin was sentenced as an adult). The third, unidentified boy, however, was acquitted.

Wendy Gardner was only 13-years-old when she and her 15-year-old boyfriend James Evans strangled her grandmother to death. Wendy and her younger sister Kathy had been sent to live with their grandmother Betty as young girls after their mother lost custody of them due to her heavy drug use. Betty Gardner did not approve of Wendy’s relationship with James and increasingly bad behaviour, fearing that she would follow in the steps of her mother, and banned the girl from having any contact with the boy after she’d found out they’d been sexually active. Wendy and James then concocted a plan to kill her grandmother in order for them to be together and have the sort of independence they felt they were entitled to. As James strangled the 67-year-old Betty, Wendy forced her little sister to watch. After the murder, Wendy and James put Betty’s body in the trunk of her own car, which they then used to go cruising around town for the next three days while they hung out with friends. James Evans was convicted of second degree murder in July of 1996 and sentenced to nine years in prison, while Wendy recieved her conviction seven months later and was given seven years. Wendy has been released from prison as of 2004. (The full story of this case can be read in Kill Grandma For Me by Jim DeFelice.)

On the afternoon of January 27, 2001, teenage friends Robert Tulloch (17) and James Parker (16) were granted entry into the home of Dartmouth Professors Half and Susanne Zantop by posing as students conducting research for a school assignment. Once inside the house, Robert ambushed Half when his back was turned and repeatedly stabbed him, focusing mostly in the head area. Susanne, who had been preparing dinner, came into the den to see what was going on, at which point James grabbed hold of her and stabbed her at Robert’s insistence. Robert then pushed James aside and continued to stab Susanne in the head and torso. The boys took off with $340 from the house, but in a rush forgot their knife sheaths behind, which ultimately lead the police to them. As for the motive, James Parker admitted that they had been trying to acquire enough money to run away from their small Vermont town in order to lead an adventerous nomadic lifestyle globe-trotting. Robert Tulloch was eventually sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, while James Parker (the only to show remorse and co-operation), received 25 years with the possibility of parole in 2026. (Recommended reading - Judgment Ridge: The True Story Behind The Dartmouth Murders by Dick Lehr & Mitchell Zuckoff.)

On the night of June 24, 1993, fourteen and sixteen-year-old Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena took a shortcut home from a pool party in order to make their eleven o'clock curfew. They came upon a group of young gang members who were holding an initiation for a new member by the railway tracks close to Elizabeth's neighbourhood. The gang captured the two girls and proceeded to rape them repeatedly for over an hour. When they realized that the girls would be able to easily identify them, they strangled them with Jennifer's own belt. When the belt snapped and broke from being pulled too tightly around Jennifer's neck, they began to use their shoelaces instead. As if this brutality wasn't enough, the boys then stomped on Jennifer and Elizabeth's throats, to ensure that they were dead. They then went back to one of the boy's houses and bragged to his older brother and sister-in-law about what they'd done, and were apprehended about a week later. Three of the six murderers have since been executed, while the other three are serving out life sentences without the possibility of parole. (I highly recommend the book Pure Murder by Corey Mitchell for those interested in learning more about this case.)