Children Who Kill: Profiles of Pre-Teen and Teenage Killers

by Carol Anne Davis

  The fantasy phase

  In September 1847 William committed a more serious act, stealing ten sovereigns from his house. His grandfather thrashed him and lectured him endlessly about the importance of honesty.

  By now William – like many beaten children – was fantasising about killing his tormentor. If his grandfather died he, William, would be safe for the very first time. The cause of the twelve-year-old’s nightmares would be over and he would be able to relax during the day with his mother. He would have a childhood at last.

  William had been taught all his life that people should use violence to get their own way. After all, he’d regularly watched his father hit him, his mother and his siblings. And now he was living in a second household where the man of the house solved disputes with a weapon or with his fists.

  Deciding to kill his grandfather, William somehow acquired a pistol. The next time they were walking in the garden he lagged behind and aimed the weapon at his grandfather’s head. The bullet missed and William immediately dropped the gun into the bushes. He blamed the incident on a passerby, though no such man could be found.

  William continued to suffer at his grandfather’s hands. The old man found the twelve-year-old boy untruthful – but William was presumably afraid to tell the truth in case it led to further verbal or physical abuse.

  Killing time

  One day his grandfather struck him so hard that he went flying and hit his head on a table. The pain was terrible. Worse, his grandfather said that he would almost kill him next time. The underweight and undersized boy was no match for the well built adult and may well have feared for his life.

  He watched the household’s rats being poisoned by arsenic and realised he could use this to get rid of his batterer. He added the white powder to the sugar bowl, knowing that his grandfather craved sweet foods.

  Over the ensuing week, every adult in the household became increasingly ill, vomiting violently. Samuel Nelme was the worst affected as he added sugar to so many of his drinks and meals. For the next six days his stomach and bowels voided their contents over and over. The doctor who was summoned found him writhing in bed and suspected he was suffering from English cholera. Ironically, each time he felt slightly better his daughter would give him some sweetened gruel to tempt his appetite. After six days spent in increasing agony, he died.

  Suspicion

  An autopsy showed that Samuel Nelme had ingested arsenic on several occasions. The police were called in to question the family and his mother admitted that her son had asked her about how arsenic worked. More damningly, he’d told the maidservant that he thought his grandfather would die very soon.

  William refused to admit that he’d put arsenic in the sugar so was initially arrested for stealing his grandfather’s watch. But whilst in Newgate Jail he was visited by a Chaplain who suggested he admit his guilt to save his soul.

  The twelve-year-old then wrote a letter to his mother saying that he deserved to be ‘sent to Hell.’ The child clearly had no inkling that the violence he’d suffered for so many years had, in turn, made him violent. Instead he said that he wished he’d listened to his mother’s religious teachings and that ‘Satan got so much power’ over him that he’d killed the elderly man.

  On 15th December 1847 he was tried before a jury at the Old Bailey. The counsel offered an insanity defence and four doctors testified that William’s head injuries and a hereditary taint had driven him to madness. His mother testified that the boy heard voices telling him to steal.

  But the judge said that the child was sane and found him guilty of murder. At this, the twelve-year-old almost collapsed and the wardens had to hold him up. The judge sentenced him to death but the sentence was almost immediately lifted, after which William Allnutt disappears from the record books. He may have been transported or given life imprisonment as young prisoners were treated very harshly in those unenlightened times.

  3 Substitute

  Cheryl Pierson & Sean Pica

  Cheryl was born on 14th May 1969 to Cathleen and James Pierson. The couple already had a three-year-old son called Jimmy. The family lived on Long Island, New York.

  James was an electrician who worked hard to give his family a good standard of living. He said that no wife of his would ever work so Cathleen spent her time shopping and chatting to the neighbours. She also had most of the responsibility for Cheryl as James said he didn’t know what to say to little girls. A very macho man, he was happiest with his male friends or when taking his son to Little League.

  He provided the family with a beautiful home and often bought them all expensive presents – but he was equally generous with his punches and slaps.

  Tyrannical

  James Pierson’s own father had been a very controlling man, and now James copied his parenting methods. Cheryl and Jimmy weren’t allowed to speak at meal-times and had to eat a little bit of everything on their plate in turn or he’d get enraged and slap them across the face. They also weren’t allowed to sip from their glasses until they’d finished the food. This control extended to every facet of their lives with the children being warned that they must keep their bedroom doors open at all times.

  At six foot two and strongly built, James Pierson was often a frightening figure to his children and his wife – and they all had the bruises to prove it. But rather than removing the children from the home, Cathleen merely told them to try to keep out of their father’s way. Cathleen herself had frequently watched her mother beat her brother with a stick so she was used to violence in the home.

  Cheryl grew up into a pretty, very feminine little girl who Cathleen loved to dress up in fairytale dresses with ribbons and bows. At school she was only an average student, but academia wasn’t particularly important as she wanted to be a hairdresser or a beautician when she grew up. She was good at school sports and was very pleased when her father attended her games.

  When Cheryl was eight the couple had another daughter, JoAnn. Cathleen showed Cheryl how to care for the new baby and Cheryl revelled in this, acting like a little mother. She was already becoming the peacemaker of the family, a child old before her time who always tried to make things right.

  The neighbours felt sorry for the little girl who was always being shouted at and slapped by her dad, so they often invited her and her equally bullied siblings over. One neighbour even dared to tackle James Pierson for the way he treated his offspring but James angrily told him to ‘fuck off’.

  Cheryl’s mother becomes ill

  When Cheryl was nine Cathleen suddenly became very ill. She was hospitalised for weeks and subjected to numerous tests. James was frantic. In his own way he really loved his wife – and very controlling individuals are often terrified of being left alone. He visited her in hospital every day and kept demanding that the doctors get quicker test results.

  Eventually Cathleen was diagnosed as having kidney failure and sent home to await a transplant. She was so ill that she mainly slept on the living room couch, so James started going into the marital bedroom to watch TV. He called Cheryl in to lie on the bed next to him as televised sport was something they both enjoyed. They’d take in cans of soda and crisps and Cheryl would curl up with her head on his chest. Sometimes both father and daughter would fall asleep.

  At other times he’d wrestle her playfully or tickle her or lift her over his head. Cheryl was pleased that at last her daddy wasn’t ignoring her. But she’d later claim that this touching became increasingly inappropriate.

  Kidney transplants

  Cheryl’s mother Cathleen remained ill for the next six years, apart from the periods following her first and then her second kidney transplant. When a relative asked her why her kidneys had declined so rapidly, she said it was because her husband was beating her. She also told a friend that she wanted to leave him because he was always shouting at the children and criticising them. Cheryl had by now matured into an attractive thirteen-year-old but she still had to act like a little child in the presence of her d
ad. Observers noted that James would call her over to him and make her hug him and act in a generally flirtatious or unduly deferential way.

  Incest is suspected

  Cathleen now told a neighbour that she wanted Cheryl out of the marital bedroom, that she thought her husband might be touching the thirteen-year-old. The neighbour suggested to Cheryl that she should watch TV in her own room. But when Cheryl did so her father turned mean and said ‘Am I not good enough to watch television with any more?’ He also picked fights with the increasingly nauseous and swollen Cathleen so Cheryl went back into the marital bedroom to keep the peace.

  James became increasingly jealous of Cheryl, punching her in the mouth when he discovered that she’d written a boy at school a Valentine card. He also punched her in the face for putting a pretty sash around her waist to brighten up her school uniform. Unfortunately it’s quite usual for authoritarian parents to try to control a teenager’s sexuality in this way. He started listening in to her phone calls, just as he’d once listened in to her mother’s phone calls – and she often had to end phone conversations with female friends because her father wanted her to take a nap with him.

  James is hurt

  When Cheryl was fourteen, her father badly damaged his legs in a work-related fall and it was feared he’d never walk again. Cheryl now had to take care of him and Cathleen and be a surrogate mother to six-year-old JoAnn.

  Frightened and in pain, James became even more difficult to live with and his need for control increased. He told his son Jimmy what type of haircut to get, what to wear and what occupation he should be following. Jimmy turned eighteen and left, vowing never to return. But he continued to see his dying mother, though both hid these meetings from his father. Cheryl also saw her brother occasionally and admitted that she missed him a lot.

  I’ll be watching you

  James now installed an elaborate security system so that he could see into every room and corridor of the bungalow. He also hid a gun – including one submachine gun – in every room.

  Cheryl tried harder and harder to please her dad. Visitors to the house noted that he’d punch her and pull her hair in supposed play, but that his actions clearly hurt her. The abuse would end when Cheryl hugged him and said ‘Daddy, I love you.’ He’d then rub her chest or entwine his fingers through her hair. Various people saw Cheryl lying on top of her father – and one relative was perturbed to find them lying like this, fully dressed, under a sheet on the marital bed.

  One of Cheryl’s schoolfriends told a school counsellor that she thought Cheryl was being abused by her dad – but the counsellor said that Cheryl would have to come and see her. Like all abused children, Cheryl would have feared both her father’s revenge and her own public humiliation, so she didn’t approach the counsellor. (At least a dozen adults strongly suspected that Cheryl was being abused by her father – but this young girl was the only one who had the courage to go to the authorities.)

  Cheryl’s world remained very small. She wasn’t allowed to date or to wear nail varnish or make-up. If she went to see a film with a friend, her father would follow her and sit a few rows behind.

  Stunted development

  Unable to grow up, Cheryl remained immature. Friends noticed that she often looked frightened. Her father constantly warned her not to talk to boys at school – and if she went over to a friend’s house to get her hair cut, he would time her so that she didn’t stay out too long. Cheryl was virtually running the Pierson household but James still found fault with her and a visitor was shocked to hear him refer to his daughter as ‘a little cunt.’

  Motherless

  In February 1985 Cathleen finally died. Now Cheryl and JoAnn were left alone with their grieving father. Cheryl had to do all the cooking and cleaning every night when she came home from class though kindly neighbours sometimes helped by supplying the family with meals. But love at last entered her life when one of the boys at her school, Rob Cuccio, comforted her over the loss of her mum.

  Rob Cuccio

  Rob was the son of a retired detective and a bank clerkess. They were a religious family who taught catechism at church.

  James Pierson was very unhappy at the prospect of Cheryl dating Rob. He made up lots of reasons why the young lovers shouldn’t see each other and finally insisted they sat in his lounge watching TV with him and JoAnn. After a while, Rob found this so awkward that he finished with Cheryl, but he missed her and started seeing her again.

  One day as they prepared to eat ice cream, James told Cheryl to give each of them a napkin. Cheryl gave Rob a napkin then gave her father one – and her father was so enraged at being served second that he punched her in the face. Shocked and frightened, Rob walked out. It’s likely that Cheryl begged him not to say anything. She’d definitely begged other adults not to intervene after she’d been hit by her dad.

  Wishing he was dead

  Like numerous abused children, Cheryl had begun to fantasise about killing her dad. Mostly, such revenge fantasies remain just that. They give the abused person a sense of control over what’s happening which temporarily makes them feel better. The killing remains at a fantasy level, for the abuser is such a terrifying figure that the child doesn’t have the nerve to physically fight back.

  Unfortunately, the talk at school turned to a local murder that had been carried out for cash. Cheryl wondered aloud why anyone would murder a stranger for a fee – and one of her classmates, Sean Pica, said that he would kill if the price was right.

  Sean Pica

  Sean was born on 18th February 1969 to Benjamin and JoAnn Pica in New York. His father was a policeman and his mother a nurse. The couple already had a two-year-old son called Joe. Three years after Sean was born they had a third son called Vincent and the family was complete. JoAnn took the boys to church every week and also taught catechism to a group of youngsters in her home.

  The marriage was an increasingly unhappy one and when Sean was seven his father left. He came back within months when nine-year-old Joe was diagnosed with leukaemia. Joe recovered and counselling failed to resurrect the marriage so Benjamin left again. He and JoAnn were divorced in Sean’s tenth year.

  Benjamin kept in touch with the children – and they got on well with his new wife – but JoAnn continued to constantly criticise him to her three sons. Sean found this very difficult as he still loved his dad.

  In fairness, JoAnn had to work incredibly hard to support her brood. She sometimes spent all night giving private nursing care then went straight on to her daytime nursing job at the hospital. It too was demanding as she worked in Intensive Care.

  Sean’s second father

  The following year, Sean’s mother met a new man called Jim. Three months later she married him, saying that she felt guilty about having sex outside wedlock as her religion didn’t allow for this. She told Sean that Jim, a hospital laboratory technician, was really his father now.

  At first Sean was happy to have this new father figure in his life. Jim took the boys to games and took an interest in their hobbies. They also enjoyed family barbecues.

  But Jim changed when he was drunk. He beat JoAnn and threw the family’s beloved labrador against the wall. Sean definitely witnessed this violence – and may also have suffered it. People in his Boy Scouts group noticed that he was troubled, that he had something on his mind.

  Three years into the marriage, Jim said he was going out to watch a softball game – but he never returned. JoAnn, who tended to make light of family problems, was very embarrassed by his desertion. She now criticised both Benjamin and Jim to young Sean.

  Sean clearly wanted a father figure, and became close to one of the Scout leaders. He also became a surrogate father to a much younger mentally handicapped boy, helping him to earn his badges in the Scouts.

  Sean entered his teens, a sensitive and gentle boy who was always willing to help others. He worried about his mother but still enjoyed spending time with his biological father. He excelled in carpentry.


  Sean’s older brother, Joe, went into the Navy and Sean really missed him. On the upside, he made a good friend called Michael and started to spend more time with the lively teenager.

  Peer pressure

  But Michael was much more streetwise than Sean. He burgled local houses and used the money he stole to experiment with cocaine. In time, Sean accompanied him on these trips and acted as look-out. He too tried cocaine and found it made him feel invincible.

  Michael stole a gun during one robbery and Sean found that holding it made him feel omnipotent. The slender boy couldn’t right his mother’s failed marriages or bring in money to support the family – but with a gun in his hand he felt powerful for perhaps the first time in his life.

  The murder plot

  Now, as his classmates talked about murder for cash, Sean said that he’d kill Cheryl’s abusive father for a thousand dollars. Later he, Rob and Cheryl talked together about the best way to do it and decided that Sean would stab James to death. Sean would throw a brick through the window of the house across the street to attract James’s attention then lunge at him with a knife. This first plan was clearly nonsensical for James Pierson was a muscular six foot two whilst Sean was a scrawny kid.