YOUNGEST US SERIAL KILLER

Article BY LORI BELL

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Craig Price, also known as the Warwick Slasher, is an American serial killer who committed his crimes in Warwick, Rhode Island. They also called him “Iron Man,” a hulking teenage football player with a baby face and winsome smile, who lived with his parents in a small ranch house in the Buttonwoods section of town.

At just 15 – years – old, Craig Price has killed four of his neighbors to become the youngest serial killer in U.S. history. He’s caught, confesses, and is convicted. However, Rhode Island law requires him to be released at age 21, barely over five years after he committed his last murder.

It was the night of July 27, 1987, when 13 – year -old Price committed his first murder. He broke into a home that was only two houses away from his own. He took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed 27 – year -old Rebecca Spencer 58 times, killing her.

The murder went unsolved until a few months after Price’s second killing, which took place almost two years later, when he was 15. On September 1, 1989, Price was a 15 -year -old freshman in high school when he murdered three other neighbors.

Price, high on Marijuana and LSD, stabbed 39 – year -old Joan Heaton 57 times; her 10 -year – old daughter Jennifer 62 times; and crushed the skull of her 8 -year-old daughter Melissa and 30 stab wounds.

The slashings were so similar to his first known kill that the FBI was called in to profile a serial killer. They failed to finger a 15-year-old black male as their suspect. It took an observant detective who noticed Price with a big cut on his hand to crack the case.

Price was a wisecracking 15 – year-old who had been in minor trouble for petty burglaries --- “thieving” he called it --- but who seemed friendly to neighbors and was always surrounded by friends.

In a nonchalant matter-of-fact drawl, Price described the night of terror in the Heaton home. He told how he bit Heaton’s face as he knifed her. He mimicked the last sounds of the dying girls. He also whined about cutting his hand. According to law enforcement officials, Price had no remorse when confessing to the crimes.

A person who demonstrates such a complete lack of remorse would require a great deal of effort to change the person even if he wanted to change. The possibility of that person repeating the same behavior in the future is actually very good.

Price was not your typical inmate at the Juvenile Training School where he was incarcerated. He was probably an intimidating presence to the other training school inmates who were kids, and most of the administration who knew that they were dealing with a multiple killer.

At age 19, Price is just two years away from freedom. Rhode Island braces for the killer’s release. He was scheduled to get out in October of 1994. It became a priority to see if there was any way to prevent him from being released.

The district attorney and Rhode Island legislators tried a number of legal maneuvers to try to keep Craig Price in jail past his 21st birthday. The case attracted national attention . President Bill Clinton weighed in, so to speak , in the efforts that were being made.

President Clinton visits Rhode Island and advocates changing the law. The Rhode Island legislation takes notice and passes a law allowing juveniles to be tried in state adult court for serious crimes, but the new law cannot be applied to the Craig Price case. He had beaten the system.

A situation presents itself that gives law enforcement one last chance to protect the people of Rhode Island. In late 1993, Price had an incident with one of the guards where he threatened the guard’s life. The guard was writing up or booking him for having cigarettes taped to his thigh.

Price was not used to being held accountable. As he was being booked, Price threatened the guard’s life and basically said “If you ever come this way again I’m gonna snuff you out.” This was the real break in the case.

Price was most certainly dangerous when he went in and he hasn’t gotten any less dangerous as a result of his experiences in the training school or in prison. So he’s older and that’s all, his mind is still the same.

Because it was a crime and it was a crime he committed as an adult, even though he was in the Juvenile Training School, it became a basis for adult criminal prosecutions. Price is indicted on one count of simple assault for threatening to injure a training school officer.

His scheduled release date was the 11th of October. The trial started about a week before, maybe ten days before, in early October, so it was a very tense time in the state. Rhode Island had waited nearly five years to see if the teenage serial killer would be set free.

A jury deliberates for 24 hours, and comes back with a verdict of guilty just eight days before his scheduled release. The sentencing for the simple assault charge is left to the Judge’s discretion. There was a lot of satisfaction that efforts were successful. It felt like they were protecting the public.

Prosecutors asked that Price serve a total of 16 years. Judge Niedermyer wasn’t giving him that, he was giving him much less than that. When he asked Price to speak, Price started rambling and just going off .

“The system once again has done a good job creating a monster, a boogeyman that no one wants to see in their dreams, let alone living across the street from. But not just any boogeyman mind you, but a black boogeyman .” He got angry and animated.

“I got mad at the guy, I yelled at him. Craig Price is getting out in five years. We can’t have this. Let’s look for something.” When Price opened his mouth on the day of sentencing that gave the Judge some concerns.

Craig Price was convicted in 1994 of extortion and assault for screaming at a training school officer. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with seven to serve for that crime. The Attorney General initiated criminal – contempt proceedings against Price for refusing to participate in the psychiatric program. A jury convicted him to 25 years in prison with 10 years to serve.

The state secured more jail time for Price after he fought with the correctional officers in 1996, stomped on another officer in 1998, and beat up an inmate in 2001. Price claimed self-defense . Price, 41, appeared before the parole board via teleconference from Florida where he had been serving time since 2004. Price was denied parole in March, 2009.

The board’s decision meant Price would complete the remainder of his Rhode Island sentence, which expires July 2018, with good time, according to the Department of Corrections. He would then serve another two years, six months, and 23 days for stabbing a correctional officer in Florida with an ice-pick-type weapon he crafted himself.

The Rhode Island Attorney General’s office filed a probation violation against Price related to the Florida assault. The state will seek to have Price returned to Rhode Island at the conclusion of his Florida term and have him held as a probation violator. He approximately has an 11 years suspended sentence with probation remaining on his Rhode Island convictions.

If Craig Price were ever released he would most likely kill again. By successfully completing the terms of his sentencing, Price could be a free man at the age of 46, walking the streets in as little as eight years.

To date, there is no telling exactly when Craig Price will ever be released from prison. His projected release date is scheduled for February 2022. However, some don’t expect Price will be released until well after the date, because of his continuing behavior towards prison guards. Many Rhode Islanders prefer it that way.

The lethal teenage is also a suspect in other unsolved homicides around Rhode Island. The FBI and local authorities believe it is only a matter of time that Price will start killing again.

Making sense of a killer can be a difficult puzzle to solve, and when feelings of abandonment, punishment, and rejection are left unresolved, there’s no telling what murderous rage a killer kid is capable of.