Children Who Torture and Kill Other Children or Adults

  Mary Bell

Last Friday Jordan Brown aged 11 killed his father’s pregnant girlfriend by shooting her in the back of the head with a shotgun as she slept.  Brown is being held at the Lawrence County Jail in Pennsylvania, isolated from the jail's approximately 300 adult inmates.  The prosecutor has stated that the death penalty would be pursued if Brown was 18 years old.  Since he is only 11, he is being charged with criminal homicide as an adult. 

Mary Flora Bell (born on 26 May 1957 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England) was convicted in December 1968 of "manslaughter for diminished responsibility" and sentenced to "detention for life" for the killing of two boys, Martin Brown (4) and Brian Howe (3). Mary was ten years old at the time of the killings and is thought to be the youngest female serial killer in history.  She was paroled at the age of 23 and now lives with her daughter anonymously. 

Jesse Pomeroy ("The Boston Boy Fiend") born in 1859, was 14 years old when he was arrested in 1874 for the sadistic murder of a four-year-old boy.  Prior to his arrest he tortured at least 7 boys from his neighborhood. 

Billy Paine, no more than 4 years old was hung by his wrists from a rope lashed to the center beam of an outhouse.  He had suffered a severe beating.  Other children molested by Pomeroy suffered beatings, as well as cuts, needle pokes, attempted castration etc.  Finally in 1876, Jesse Pomeroy was sentenced to life in prison to be served in solitary confinement.  He ended up serving over 40 years in solitary confinement and died in prison in 1931. 

Melinda Loveless (born October, 1975) was convicted of the January 10, 1992 murder of Shanda Renee Sharer in Jefferson County, Indiana.  Three of her friends including Laurie Tackett, assisted in the 10 hour torture and subsequent murder of Shanda, who was only 12 years old at the time of her death.  The torture included; beating, stabbing, and sodomy.  She was eventually doused with gasoline and set on fire while still alive.  Melinda is currently serving concurrent twenty and sixty-year terms for criminal confinement and murder in the Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis.  Laurie Tackett is also still in prison, while the other accomplices have been released.  According to online prison records, her earliest possible release date is November 21, 2020.

TYPES OF CHILD KILLERS

-          Gang members

-          Psychopathic/Insane Children

-          School killers (usually kill fellow students and/or teachers)

-          Sexual predators (often abused, act out on defenseless, younger children)

-          Kids who kill their own unwanted babies

WHY WOULD A CHILD KILL?

-          For attention

-          For a thrill

-          To solve a perceived problem

-          To show off in front of peers

-          Lashing out due to abuse suffered

-          Illness and mental retardation preventing the child from understanding his or her actions

-          Psychopathic tendencies

-          Redeem him/herself after an embarrassment or humiliation