isiliyeisearthko

"He thought he was avenging

something. I don't know what it was. Whether he'd been bullied or not, it never

came up in the trial, but there's always a lot of speculation about that. I suspect

there could have been. I never even found out. I have never talked to Barry since

it happened”. (Vigil, 2014) During the trial, both Barry’s parents talked about

the change that had occurred in him over the past two years. His mother claimed

he had once been a happy, bright child but over the next year he “started slowly

backing away from people” (Miller, 1996). His father stated that when he saw

him in jail before the trial he looked like a “completely different person” and that

he didn’t know what to think because it was as if “the whole thing was a

nightmare” and that “all of this stuff that had been boiling up inside of him all of

a sudden started coming out”. (Miller, 1996) Barry was sentenced to two life

sentences and two-hundred and five additional years in prison.

#3 Kipland Kinkle

In Springfield, Oregon, 15-year-old Kipland Kinkle killed two people, not

including his parents whom he’d murdered earlier, and injured twenty-five,

including a police officer, in 1998. The shootings shouldn’t have come as a

complete surprise. After all, he was named “Most Likely to Start WWIII” in his

middle school yearbook.

The Murders

Kipland was suspended from school on May 20, 1998. He’d had a loaded, stolen

handgun on the premises. He was taken to the police station where his father

picked him up. Later that afternoon, according to Kipland’s confession, his

father apparently told him he’d be going to military school. When his father

wasn’t paying attention to him, he got his .22 rifle and shot him in the back of

the head. He then dragged him to the bathroom and covered him up. When his

mother got home he told her he loved her and then shot her three times in the

face, once in the heart, and twice in the back of the head. He also covered her

body in a sheet.

He then set his CD player to “continuous play” and played “Liebestod” from

Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” over and over again for the rest of the afternoon.

He left a note stating his reasons for killing his parents as: "I just got two

felonies on my record. My parents can't take that! It would destroy them. The

embarrassment would be too much for them. They couldn't live with

themselves." He also stated that: "My head just doesn't work right. Goddamn

these VOICES inside my head. ... I have to kill people. I don't know why. ... I

have no other choice.”

The next morning he drove to the high school wearing a trench coat and carrying

five weapons, fired two shots on the patio, and then went into the cafeteria where

he fired another fifty rounds. When he ran out of ammo, other students saw this

as their opportunity to stop him. They tackled him and managed to hold him

down until the police arrived.

The Trial

Kipland maintains that he was mentally ill at the time of the killings. He also

thinks he should’ve had a mental health exam before going to trial. One defense

investigator told Kipland’s trial lawyer that he, "Was much worse ... so agitated

that he would pace, hit one wall, turn, pace to the next wall, hit it, etc. He was in

anguish and it was disconcerting to me,” (Bernstein 2011) Dr. William Sack

thought Kipland’s “paranoia” forced him to hide his illness and that he was

“terrified of being labeled mentally ill because others would discover that he was

'nuts’”. (Bernstein, 2011)

Kipland first sought an insanity defense but then abandoned it right before trial.

Instead, he sought a plea and agreed to serve twenty-five years for the deaths of

his parents and two of his classmates (17-year-old Mikael Nickolauson and 16-

year-old Ben Walker). The deal also included forty months for all of the twentysix attempted murders. This brought his total up to one-hundred eleven years and

eight months.

Kipland’s attorney argued that the long prison term is longer than the life

expectancy of any human and asked a judge to throw it out and hand down a

new one, claiming that he had pled guilty and “didn't try to evade responsibility

for what he had done and asked for a lawful sentence”. (Bernstein, 2013)

Jesse Pomeroy

Many people are under the impression that crimes have exacerbated in the past

fifty years or so and that people in general are more violent these days. However,

the world holds a history of kids killing kids, and even as far back as the mid19th century, it wasn’t uncommon to hear about tragic crimes involving the

deaths of children.

Jesse’s Childhood

Jesse grew up in South Boston. His father was known for stripping and beating

his children, something Jesse would subject those younger than himself to. Like

many serial killers, he got his start torturing and killing small animals. His

mother, Ruth, apparently wanted a pair of lovebirds. However, she was afraid of

what might befall them since, the last time they’d had birds, they’d been

discovered with their heads twisted off. Jesse was later found torturing a kitten

belonging to a neighbor.

The Murders & Crimes

Jesse was known for his physical appearance almost as much as his crimes. He

possessed a milky white-eye and had a harelip that certainly stood out to those

who encountered him. In 1874, 14-year-old Jesse Pomeroy was arrested for the

murder of a 4-year-old boy named Horace Mullen. He wasn’t unknown to

notoriety. Three years before, he’d also sexually tortured seven boys. He would

take them into the woods and strip and beat them. He would use his knife on

some of them, drawing blood.

His first victim was 4-year-old William “Billy” Paine. In December 1871, two

men came upon a small cabin in South Boston and heard crying emanating from

inside. When they entered, they found Billy almost naked and hanging by a rope

in the middle of the building, which was about the size of an outhouse. He was

barely conscious and had blue lips from the cold. He showed signs of being

savagely beaten. Since Billy wasn’t able to identify the person who did this to

him, the police let it go.

In February, Jesse persuaded 7-year-old Tracy Hayden to go to Powder Horn

Hill with him. When they were by themselves, Jesse tied the young boy up and

tortured him by knocking out his teeth, blackening his eyes, and breaking his

nose. He also stripped him and beat him with a stick. Tracy was only able to give

police a vague description of Jesse.

In the spring, Jesse led 8-year-old Robert Maier to the cabin by telling him he

was going to see the circus. Once there, he stripped him and beat him. While

engaging in these acts, Jesse also fondled himself. Once he’d achieved orgasm

he released Robert and told him he’d kill him if he told anybody about what

happened.

By the time the third victim surfaced, a $500 reward was being offered to find

the sick fiend who’d been subjecting these children to such unspeakable horrors.

Unfortunately, the image the police were handing out and posting did not clearly

resemble Jesse so it was difficult to track him down.

Jesse’s next victim was 7-year-old George Pratt. Jesse promised to give him 25

cents if he helped him with something. Yet George, like the others, was stripped

and beaten. Jesse even bit off some of George’s cheek during the onslaught and

stabbed him with a long needle. He tried to stab him in the eye but failed. Before

he left him, Jesse bit him in the buttocks.

A month later, he kidnapped 6-year-old Henry Austin. He stripped and beat this

boy with a leather belt but also stabbed him several times with a knife. He also

tried to slice off Henry’s penis but left before he followed through with the act.

Less than a week later, he took 7-year-old Joseph Kennedy to the marshes and

beat him and stabbed him. He also made him recite the Lord’s Prayer using

curse words. When Joseph refused to do so, Jesse sliced the boy’s face and then

rinsed it with salt water.