Top 10 Kids Who Have Committed Horrific Murders

When people think of horrific crimes, they don't usually think of children as the accused. Here are chilling crimes committed by the following real-life children.
The Top Ten
Jon Venables and Robert Thompson

It's deeply unsettling to comprehend that a 2-year-old toddler fell victim to a horrific crime committed by two 10-year-old boys. The primary instigator, Venables, was a troubled individual who, along with his friend Thompson, committed a series of thefts that culminated in the abduction of an innocent toddler from a store his mother was shopping in.

Despite being captured on CCTV, the poor camera quality led the police to initially misidentify them as teenagers. After leaving the store, they subjected the toddler to unimaginable cruelty, culminating in his death on a railway track. Days later, children playing nearby discovered his remains.

The police investigation eventually led to the shocking revelation that the perpetrators were mere 10-year-olds. They were convicted of murder and incarcerated until they reached adulthood. However, Venables' subsequent arrest in 2017 for possession of child pornography indicates that he failed to comprehend the gravity of his earlier actions.

May James Bulger (1990-1993) rest in peace.

Mary Bell

On the day before her 11th birthday, in May 1968, Mary Bell strangled four-year-old Martin Brown in an abandoned house. Shortly afterward, she broke into an orphanage and vandalized it, leaving notes claiming responsibility for Brown's slaying. The police assumed it was a prank.

A month later, joined by a friend, she took and murdered a three-year-old boy named Brian Howe in the same area as the first killing. They returned to the body and carved an "M" into his stomach, scratched his legs, and mutilated his private parts.

Mary was convicted of manslaughter and was held until the age of 23. She was granted anonymity, which has also been extended to protect the identity of her daughter. As a result, any court order that permanently protects someone's identity is known as a "Mary Bell order."

Sandra and Beth Andersen (The Bathtub Girls)

Discontented, sisters "Sandra," 16, and "Beth," 15, scoured the Internet looking for advice on how to get rid of their mother. They believed that by killing her, they would be entitled to insurance money and would get $68,000 each.

They got their mom drunk, gave her six Tylenol 3 tablets, and, when she was finally sedated, they prepared a warm bath and put her in the bathtub. The older sister then forced her head underwater and did not let go until she was lifeless.

After killing their mother, the siblings and their friends celebrated at a nearby restaurant. Later that night, Sandra and Beth called 9-1-1 and informed them that they had found their mother lying in the bathtub. They were told by the operator to perform CPR, but the girls refused to cooperate.

The victim's death was officially considered accidental until a young male told police that one of the defendants had confessed to him at a party that she and her sister had killed their mother. Soon thereafter, the siblings were arrested, tried, and sentenced to 10 years in prison for first-degree murder.

Because both girls were so young at the time of their crime, they were given the names "Sandra" and "Beth" to protect their identities under Canadian law, and their identities will forever be a secret.

Jesse Pomeroy

Jesse Pomeroy is alleged to have killed nine people, and he began to torture other children when he was only 11 years old.

He was eventually caught, but once he was released, he took his beatings too far and killed a girl named Katie Curran. He threw her body in the basement of his mom's dress shop, where it was later found.

Cindy Collier and Shirley Wolf

Well, having a traumatic thing happen to you still doesn't justify committing a horrific crime.

It was June 1983, and teenagers Cindy, 15, and Shirley, 14, were full of anger. Cindy was raped before her tenth birthday, while Shirley was raped by her father when she was just a child. As soon as they met, they formed a strong bond.

After only a few hours of meeting, the pair decided to knock on doors at Collier's condominium development in Auburn, California, hoping that someone would let them enter. Many senior citizens were not fooled and felt suspicious when they met the girls. Unfortunately, Anna Brackett, 85 years old, wanted to help these two girls who asked to use her phone and allowed them to enter, unaware that it would cost her her life.

Thinking the time had come to act, the pair attacked the lady. Wolf grabbed Brackett by the throat, threw her to the floor, and repeatedly stabbed her neck about 28 times. After the murder, the pair went to Cindy's house where Shirley wrote in her diary:

"Today we killed an old lady. It was fun."

No one could believe that the teenage girls were responsible for murder, but when the two girls were separated for questioning, Cindy said at once, "It was us."

Daniel Bartlam

In 2011, when he was 15 years old, Bartlam killed his own mom while she was sleeping by beating her with a hammer and then setting the house on fire.

Initially, he claimed that a burglar had committed the crime, but investigators found search terms like how to get away with murder and other related topics on his computer.

Because of the crime, he was arrested, tried, and sentenced to 16 years in a juvenile detention facility.

Josh Phillips

The event happened when Phillips, who was 14 years old at the time, was home alone and Maddie came to his house, inviting him to come outside and play with her. Even though he wasn't allowed to have friends over while his parents weren't home, Phillips agreed.

As the pair were playing baseball, Phillips accidentally caused the ball to hit Maddie's eye, which made it bleed. She began crying and screaming. Knowing that his father would be home soon, Phillips decided to drag Maddie into his house and take her to his room. He attempted to subdue her with a phone cord for approximately 15 minutes.

Thereafter, he hit her again with the baseball bat and stuffed her under the base of his bed. After discovering that Maddie was still alive, he proceeded to remove the mattress and stab her 11 times, killing her. After a week, Maddie's body was found when Phillips's mom noticed a strange smell coming from his room. Phillips was later arrested and is now serving a life sentence.

Eric Smith

In 1993, Eric Smith rode his bike to a summer day camp in a local park where he saw 4-year-old Derrick Robie walking alone to that same camp. Because he was being bullied by older children at school, he took his rage out on the kid by convincing the boy to follow him into a nearby wooded area, where he strangled him, smashed his head in with a large rock, undressed his body, and sodomized him with a tree limb. The cause of death was determined to be blunt trauma to the head with contributing asphyxia.

This kid grew up and has really changed. What he did was a nightmare, but now he deserves to be free.

Barry Dale Loukaitis

In February 1996, 14-year-old Barry Dale Loukaitis walked into his algebra classroom dressed as though he was from the Wild West. He shot and killed two students and his algebra teacher. He then held the class hostage for an hour until a gym teacher showed up and wrestled Loukaitis to the ground until the police arrived.

Man, some kid went and shot up his school thinking it was the Wild West? That's like committing the mass murder of 100 people thinking you're in the Iraq War.

Alyssa Bustamante

In October 2009, 15-year-old Alyssa Bustamante brutally killed her 9-year-old neighbor, Elizabeth Olten. She repeatedly stabbed her in the chest and slit her throat. She left the body under a pile of leaves in a nearby forest and later wrote in her diary:

"I just...killed someone...I don't know how to feel atm.It was ahmazing. As soon as you get over the 'ohmygawd I can't do this' feeling, it's pretty enjoyable. I'm kinda nervous and shaky though right now. Kay, I gotta go to church now...lol."

It was later revealed that Bustamante dug two graves, which suggested that her twin brothers may have been the initial targets.

The Contenders
Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden

They were two middle schoolers who killed 5 people in their middle school in Arkansas in 1998. This was what I consider Columbine before Columbine.

Dedrick Owens

This boy was 6 years old when he killed one of his classmates in a Michigan elementary school in 2000. Since he was too young, he wasn't charged for committing this act.

Eric Harris Eric David Harris (April 9th, 1981 - April 20th, 1999) was an American senior student who participated in the Columbine High School Massacre, together with his best friend Dylan Klebold. He was armed with a Hi-Point 995 Carbine rifle and a Savage 67H pump-action shotgun. He dressed in green cargo pants,... read more
Brenda Spencer

One of the first "school shooters," it's a miracle only 2 were killed. She opened fire on a playground full of children from her apartment across the street. "I don't like Mondays."

This was a girl who killed 2 people at a San Diego elementary school in 1979.

Peter Kurten

Even before his killing spree as an adult, Kurten had already killed two boys when he was 9 or 10 by drowning them during a river trip.

Peter Woodcock
Nikolas Cruz Nikolas Jacob Cruz (born September 24, 1998) is an American mass murderer who committed the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on February 14, 2018. 17 people were killed in the massacre, while 17 others were injured. It surpassed the 1999 Columbine High School shooting as the deadliest high school... read more

Even though he shouldn't be on this list, I'll discuss him anyway. He killed 17 innocent people with a firearm as heartlessly as possible. I'm glad he's suffering in jail. I hope he gets the death penalty.

I feel sorry for the innocent lives that were taken away from that Florida high school, which happened on Valentine's Day 2018.

Autistic or not, it doesn't give this boy an excuse to kill anyone!

Kyle Rittenhouse
Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik

Near midnight on September 22, 2006, around 11:00 PM, these two high school boys killed 16-year-old Cassie Jo Stoddart by repeatedly stabbing her while she was house-sitting for her relatives to mind their pets.

During her stay, her boyfriend, Matt Beckham, visited her in the evening. Later, two of her classmates, Brian Lee Draper and Torey Michael Adamcik, also visited Cassie and her boyfriend. They went to the living room to watch a movie called "Kill Bill, Volume II." Partway through the movie, the two classmates decided to go to the movie theater. Unbeknownst to Cassie, one of the classmates had unlocked the basement door.

When the two classmates returned to the house, they dressed like typical horror movie characters and armed themselves with knives. They made loud noises in an attempt to frighten the couple into going downstairs. When that did not work, they shut off the power at the circuit breaker, which also failed to achieve their goal.

Feeling uneasy, Cassie's boyfriend called his mother to ask if he could stay longer to calm her down. His request was refused, but his mother offered for Cassie to come to their house. Concerned about the pets, Cassie refused the offer.

The two boys noticed that Cassie's boyfriend had left the house. They turned off the lights again in an attempt to lure Cassie downstairs. When their plan failed, they went upstairs and stabbed her over thirty times, inflicting twelve deadly wounds and killing her.

These boys wanted to make a real-life horror movie, a plot they had planned for weeks. Both were sentenced to life in prison without parole. Their motives were inspired by the Columbine High School massacre and the horror movie "Scream."

Amarjeet Sada
Dylan Klebold Dylan Bennet Klebold (September 11th, 1981 - April 20th, 1999) was an American senior student who participated in the Columbine High School Massacre, together with best friend Eric Harris. He was armed with a Intratec TEC-DC 9 rapid shooter and a Stevens 311D double barrelled shotgun. He dressed in... read more
Kipland Kinkel
Kyle Alwood
Natsumi Tsuji
Jeff Weise
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