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His last victim was a 5-year-old boy. This child was discovered tied to a post

close to the railroad tracks. His head had been slashed and he’d been beaten and

stripped. Jesse had almost cut the boy’s throat, but oncoming railroad workers

disturbed him and he’d run away. This time the young boy was able to

accurately describe Jesse, which greatly helped the police.

For these crimes, he was sentenced to reform school in Westborough, MA. He

was supposed to stay for seven years but, due to good behavior, was released

after being there a little over a year.

After being released early from reform school, he mutilated and killed a 10-yearold girl named Mary Curran. He kidnapped Horace a month later and slashed

him so violently with a knife Horace was almost decapitated. When investigators

showed him Horace’s body and asked him if he’d killed the child, Jesse

responded casually, "I suppose I did." After the death of Horace, he was dubbed

"The Boston Boy Fiend."

He confessed to the other murder when Mary was found in his mother’s cellar.

She had been both beaten and mutilated. He also confessed to having killed

twenty-seven others, although this was never validated. Investigators; however,

did find the remains of twelve other people around his house. He was, at first,

sentenced to be hanged. However, many people didn’t agree with this since he

was still technically a child. As a result, he was sentenced to more than forty

years in solitary confinement.

The Aftermath

During his trial, a lot of people used his case as an example, showing that morals

(especially of the young) were declining. They blamed some of the so-called

“Dime Novels” for this. Jesse; however, said that he’d never read any of these

books. When he was asked why he committed the crimes, he answered that he

“couldn’t help himself.”

Jesse spent his sentence in solitary confinement before being allowed to

associate with other prisoners. He made several suicide attempts before he was

moved to an asylum. He died in 1932 when he was 72.

Cristian Fernandez

In 2013, when he was 13, Cristian Fernandez beat his 2-year-old half-brother to

death and sexually abused his 5-year-old brother. He was charged with sexual

abuse and first-degree murder.

Who was Cristian Fernandez?

Cristian’s life did not get off to a good start. At the age of two he was discovered

naked and dirty, wandering the streets in South Florida. His grandmother, who

was meant to be watching him, was found in a motel room with cocaine. His

mother, who was only fourteen years old herself, was absent from the scene. It

was later discovered that his pregnancy had been the result of a sexual assault.

He was later beaten by his father and sexually assaulted by his cousin. His father

committed suicide shortly thereafter when he knew the police were coming to

question him about the abuse. After Cristian’s arrest, it was determined he had

once killed a kitten by beating it. (Hunt, 2011) A standardized test had indicated

he showed high levels of violent tendencies, even at a young age. Nevertheless,

he was still a straight-A student at his middle school. (Hunt, 2011)

The Charges

When Cristian was arrested, he became Duval County’s (Jacksonville) youngest

ever murder suspect. (NewsforJax, February 2013) Upon being arrested he told

the detective he’d broken 2-year old David Galarriago’s leg in January 2011.

When asked if he’d heard it snap he replied, “Well, sort of. He started crying so I

stopped”. (NewsforJax, February 2013) At first, he claimed David had run into a

bookshelf and injured his head. He later confessed to pushing him into the

bookshelf because he was angry about something his step-dad had done. He used

a doll to show the detective what had made the toddler suffer.

Cristian’s mother was not home at the time; she was taking his other brother to

school. He claimed he had to babysit his siblings a lot. When the detective

pushed him about his remorse he stated that he, “Felt bad because then I realized

what I'd actually done, because I wasn't really thinking about what I was doing

when I pushed him. I was just thinking about myself”. (NewsforJax, February

2013)