Friday, Apr. 15, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | Teens plead guiltyGirls did cocaine night before killing grandparents By JOHN MUNFORD For two young ladies who admitted to brutally killing Carl and Sarahh Collier, Holly Harvey and Sandra Ketchum were quite soft-spoken when it came time Thursday to admit their guilt in the killings. Harvey, the Colliers’ 16-year-old granddaughter, was sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms and Fayette Superior Court Judge Paschal A. English Jr. forced her to go into great detail about the killings. When English asked her why she killed her grandparents, she said simply: “For Sandy.” The judge pressed her further. Then she said she and Sandy killed her grandparents “so we could be together.” When the judge asked where the star-crossed couple might go, she said, “Anywhere.” Police have confirmed that Harvey and Ketchum were involved in a romantic relationship. When English asked Harvey what she would have chosen to be her punishment, Harvey replied, “I think I should be dead.” “Well, we both agree on that,” English replied. Harvey, who looked dressed for Sunday School in a pink blouse, cried often during the hearing, so overcome by emotion that her voice warbled at times. She was due to attend Sandy Creek High School as a freshman just days after the killings, officials previously confirmed. Harvey told the court that she “closed her eyes” before stabbing her grandmother in the back when Sarahh and Carl Collier came to Harvey’s basement bedroom to get a suitcase. Harvey said she stabbed Sarah three times, and after the first stab, her grandmother “screamed, but it wasn’t very loud.” Harvey also admitted to later chasing her grandfather up the stairs into the kitchen, where she claimed he had a knife. Then again, Harvey said she “closed her eyes” and stabbed her grandfather multiple times as he tried to use the phone, presumably to call for help. “I just started stabbing my grandpa real bad,” Harvey said. Carl Collier then walked briefly around the kitchen island, eventually stumbling to the kitchen floor where he died, Harvey said. Harvey said she first resisted going upstairs after her grandfather, but she said Sandy Ketchum told her to. “She said, ‘Go get him.’ and I was like, nope,” Harvey said. Soon after, Harvey said she changed her mind and then chased Carl Collier up the stairs into the kitchen where he was trying to use the phone although its lines previously had been cut by Harvey. The attack left Harvey’s face “covered with blood,” she told the court. Harvey said Ketchum admitted to stabbing her grandmother, Sarah Collier, “in the heart and the back of her head.” After the killings, Harvey and Ketchum didn’t have a plan on how to get away, but they took the truck keys and drove to a friend’s house in Griffin to clean up with a wet towel, Harvey said. Then they drove to Tybee Island where they befriended two brothers, whom they spent the night with before lawmen swooped in to make the arrest, Harvey said. The night before the killings, Harvey said she got high on crack cocaine and marijuana after sneaking away from the Colliers’ house to an apartment in Union City with her 30-year-old friend “Calvin” whom her mom introduced to her. At the time of the murders, Harvey said she was living with her grandparents because her mother Carla Jane Harvey was incarcerated on drug charges. Harvey also noted that she and Sandy stabbed the wall and her mattress multiple times to make sure the knife Harvey had gotten from the Colliers’ kitchen “was sharp enough.” Harvey admitted she got “the biggest” knife she could find in the kitchen. Chidester told the court that Harvey was very remorseful. “She hopes that one day she can forgive herself so others can forgive her,” Chidester said. Chidester added that a number of family members and friends who previously knew Harvey had contacted her to offer support, and Harvey tremendously appreciated that. English said in his 30-plus years as a district attorney and judge, he couldn’t remember coming across a case quite as brutal as this one. “You’ve got a 15-year-old little girl who came before me and admitted to savagely killing the people that she lived with,” English said. He added that although he wished he could give Harvey the death sentence, facing a life sentence in prison could well be a just punishment, referring to how Harvey has experienced remorse about the killings. District Attorney Scott Ballard credited the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department for getting the girls in custody within 17 hours of the murders. “Some of them didn’t sleep until the girls were caught,” Ballard said. English added that in his experience on the bench and formerly as district attorney, he felt that Fayette County was blessed with professional law enforcement, particularly with Sheriff Randall Johnson and the staff at the Sheriff’s Department.
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