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Analysis: Homicidal teens don’t just murder on a whim

By Dr. GREGORY MOFFATT

Fayette County is reeling over the tragic deaths of two of its citizens. This past week we were stunned to learn that the accused killers were children.

Two teenage girls, Holly Ann Harvey, 15, and Sandy Ketchum, 16, are said to have plotted and stabbed Harvey’s grandparents to death in what veteran law enforcement officers called the most gruesome murder scene they have ever seen.

Sarah and Carl Collier had cared for Harvey since her mother was sent to prison on drug charges. Harvey had developed a romantic relationship with Ketchum, one that the Colliers disapproved of.

In the days leading up to the murder, Harvey was angry with her grandparents because they had forbidden her to see Ketchum.

In the early evening on the night of the murder, Ketchum slipped into the Collier home. The two girls smoked marijuana in Harvey’s basement bedroom, allegedly hoping to lure the Collier’s downstairs.

As Ketchum hid under the bed with a knife, police say that the Collier’s confronted Harvey who then stabbed her grandmother.

According to authorities, as the Collier’s attempted to hold Harvey down, Harvey called for help from Ketchum who came to her assistance and stabbed Mrs. Collier.

Mr. Collier fled upstairs. Harvey chased him and allegedly stabbed him to death in the kitchen.

After the murders, Harvey and Ketchum went to a friend’s house seeking help to clean up and change clothes. Soon after, they fled to Savannah where they were apprehended the next day.

One can’t help but ask what went wrong. How could such young girls commit such a heinous crime?

Each victim was stabbed at least 15 times. One stab wound is impulse. Stabbing 15 times is rage.

After 15 years of studying homicidal behavior and examining hundreds of murders, I can assure the reader that these girls did not wake up one day and suddenly become killers. They set themselves on the road that led to this end.

This is this very type of murder that drew me into the field of homicide to begin with. I couldn’t believe that people could be “normal” one day and with no warning become brutal killers the next. In fact, they don’t. Harvey is alleged to be the leader of the two. Authorities say she manipulated Ketchum who was in love with her.

All homicide duos include a dominant and a subordinate. Ketchum followed Harvey’s orders because of her infatuation with Harvey.

Lesbianism, while it may add to the sensationalism of the story, is a peripheral issue, not a cause, of the murder. This very easily could have been two boys or a boy and a girl.

What does any sixteen-year-old know about love, homo- or heterosexual?

The immature romantic tie served only to increase the likelihood that Ketchum would follow the lead of her more dominant partner.

While both girls may share culpability, as with any homicidal duo, the outcome would have been much different if the dominant partner had not led the subordinate into the murder. I have studied dozens of murders by children and it always astounds me that they could do what they do. Yet I know that there are several characteristics of children that help me to understand why they choose to kill instead of selecting more acceptable methods for dealing with their troubles.

Children have poorer coping skills and problem-solving skills than adults. This leads them to make poorer choices than more mature thinkers because, in part, they can think of fewer means for getting what they want and for dealing with their problems.

In short, they run out of ideas faster.

Children also have more difficulty delaying gratification than adults. Therefore, the more immature they are, the more likely they are to choose the most rewarding option first.

For example, in this case, these girls wanted to “be together forever.” Instead of waiting until they were old enough to be on their own as most teens would do, they decided to take what they wanted right now. This single characteristic is evident in nearly all juvenile delinquent behavior.

Prior to adulthood, children and teens have limited abstract reasoning skills. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, for them to fully understand the ramifications of their behavior.

Even Harvey, who has appeared callous and seemingly unaffected by the grim circumstances she is in, will not come to a full realization of what her alleged actions mean for many months to come.

These girls cannot fully understand the pain this murder has caused the many people that are affected by these deaths: Children, aunts, uncles, neighbors, and friends.

They cannot understand the permanence of death, the permanence of life in prison, and they do not yet realize the many normal life experiences that they will miss because of their alleged behavior.

The impulsivity of youth combined with limited abstract reasoning leads me to believe that it is impossible for teens to fully understand what they are doing when they commit an act like this.

Finally, young people are egocentric and they pursue their personal wishes regardless of the cost to others. At some level, this is true of almost all children. However, combining an egocentric approach to life with the other characteristics listed above creates a deadly combination. With all of these characteristics, the more immature the individual, the more likely he or she will make bad choices.

Numerous indicators are present in this crime that demonstrate the immature thinking of these girls.

At first glance, it appears that they planned things carefully. They allegedly planned the act for several days. They tried to acquire guns from a friend and when that plan failed they collected the three knives from the Collier home to be used in the murder.

Harvey wrote a list of things to do on her arm (“kill, keys, money, jewelry”), they sneaked Ketchum into the house hiding her under a bed, and they lured the Colliers into the basement just as they planned.

However, a series of bad decisions shows their immaturity and lack of judgment.

After the murder, the girls didn’t find any money. Regardless of what they thought, there wasn’t any to find.

Almost immediately, they divulged what they had done to friends and showed up at one friend’s house covered in blood.

They kept two of the three murder weapons, which were later recovered by police.

If a person is trying to elude police, telling friends what you did and keeping incriminating evidence doesn’t help.

Despite their planning for the murder, they had absolutely no plan for what they would do afterward except “be together.”

They had no money and did not even have a plan for where they would spend the very first night. They had given no thought to where they would go, how they would get there, or how they would sustain their lives together.

They took a truck belonging to the victims and as a final testimony to their poor planning, the girls were apprehended within 24 hours of the murders.

Even though good police work was involved in apprehending these girls so quickly, the duo left a trail of bread-crumbs so conspicuous that a blind 10-year-old would have eventually followed the clues directly to their hiding place. I don’t mean to disrespect the professionalism of law enforcement with my comments, but I want to make it clear that these girls are not the teen version of “Thelma and Louise” as some media accounts have portrayed them.

They are not heroes and they should not to be given any accolades of infamy.

They are children who allegedly committed a brutal and horrific act and I wouldn’t even use their names if I could avoid it.

It would be easy to look in retrospect and identify warning signs of what these girls were capable of, but this case is not isolated.

Nearly all of the many homicides that I’ve studied have similar symptoms that indicated a brewing storm prior to the homicide.

For example, Harvey once wrote in a poem, “all I want to do is kill.” She also described herself as depressed. Both girls had spent time in juvenile detention. Harvey had been placed in an alternative school for the 2003 school year, something that usually is the result of delinquent behavior in mainstream school.

Harvey allegedly tried to acquire guns for the purpose of killing her grandparents a week before the murders. Friends knew of her plot, but did not believe she would do it.

Neighbors knew the Colliers had serious trouble with Harvey. Sarah Harvey had expressed her concern about her granddaughter with her Sunday School class. The Colliers had “declined to prosecute Holly in juvenile court” on more than one occasion, according to a police official who also noted that these girls, “had conflicts with people in general.”

Once again, they set themselves on the road that they chose to travel and their journey was visible to others. I am confident that any observant adult who knows Harvey very well, even though he may be dismayed that she committed such a brutal act, would not be surprised.

It is not known to the public why either girl had been in juvenile detention in the past, nor is it public why Ketchum had been sent to an alternative school, but more will come out about Harvey background that will confirm what I have said, rest assured.

There is no doubt she will have a history of incorrigibility. No doubt.