Trigger warning: violence, mention of child abuse, mental illness.
When killers are given names like the “Devil’s Daughter” or the “Runaway Devil”, one would picture the truly fearsome and fatal women we have come to associate with female killers. Karla Homolka. Mary Ann Cotton. Aileen Wournos. Katherine Knight.
One wouldn’t immediately guess these names were given to two 12-year-old girls.
It’s a rare phenomenon, hence why it garners so much media spectacle when it does happen. It’s appalling to think an innocent-looking girl barely hitting her teen years could murder in cold blood. One of my friends has a daughter around this age. Even as a true crime addict, I cannot fathom that lovely kid I have known since birth to be capable of homicide. It’s foreign to me.
In a 2014 article from The Cut, criminologist Kathleen M. Heide (University of South Florida, author of “Understanding Parricide”) discussed girls who kill. She said that only about eight percent of juveniles convicted for homicide are girls. Most times, they kill someone they know. According to Heide, 80 percent of girls who killed did so as a result of conflict. These girls are also more likely to use knives or their bare hands. Rarely do they use guns. An interesting observation, given that female serial killers as adults are more known to use an MO that doesn’t involve a lot of blood or mess.
“Runaway Devil”
The “Runaway Devil”, or J.R. as she was known in the media, fits this profile. On April 23, 2006, in Medicine Hat, Alberta, a young boy looked into the window of the home to see the dead bodies of both parents and J.R.’s eight-year-old brother. I recall hearing about this case back then. J.R. and Jeremy’s involvement in the Goth culture caused backlash against Goths. Southern Alberta is a highly religious and conservative area, which added to the discrimination that fell on a culture that did not deserve it. Some of the Goth community called J.R. and Jeremy wannabes. I live a couple hours away from Medicine Hat, but the backlash also happened here. I think the Goth culture was blamed because people didn’t want to believe that a 12-year-old girl was capable of this. Something had to be wrong, and it had to be her social circle, right? Wrong. J.R. came from a good, middle-class family. She had a normal childhood. Her parents were loving and happy. So, what happened?
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
J.R. immersed herself into an online world. Despite her activity being monitored by her parents, she fell into the grasp of 23-year-old Jeremy Steinke, a guy who donned the alias of “Souleater” and claimed to be a 300-year-old werewolf. The internet is where the lines between reality and fantasy blur. These two fell into a fantasy that wasn’t part of the Goth community or the normal world. It was their own bizarre, twisted abyss, rejected by both sides.
Her parents disclosed to close friends and family in the weeks before the murders that they were struggling to get their daughter under control. She was defiant, rebellious, was always crossing boundaries and had no self-accountability. Family therapy failed. Her parents wanted to keep her away from Jeremy. A 23-year-old man had NO business dating what he thought was a 15-year-old, let alone carrying it on when he discovered J.R. was only 12. He would later claim she planned the murders, and he only helped do it.
At around 5 a.m. on April 23, 2006, after months of talking non-stop about killing her parents, J.R. let Jeremy into the family home. The slaughter ensued. He stabbed and slashed her parents, while she attacked her brother. Jeremy later said she slit her brother’s throat. J.R. played innocent and said she choked her brother and stabbed him once, then couldn’t finish. The pair went on the run but it didn’t last long. A digital trail led the cops straight to them.
Profile
J.R. was diagnosed after the fact with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder. ODD is a well-established pattern of behaviour diagnosed in elementary-aged kids. Abnormal anger and irritability, frequent loss of temper, inconsideration of authority, vindictiveness and blaming others for problems are all symptoms. To be diagnosed, the behaviours must be severe and the issues having persisted for at least six months. I believe J.R. was a baffling exception to many killers. With no history of trauma or abuse, why did her defiance start so early?
Maybe J.R. knew her parents’ breaking point at a young age and pushed it until she had the upper hand. Her parents would have become more controlling. She would have kept rejecting and crossing boundaries.
Image by ALBERTO H. FABREGAS from Pixabay
Conduct disorder, diagnosed in the early teens, is an escalation that includes a difficulty forming healthy relationships, lack of self-accountability, hostile behaviour, and blaming others for problems. Stress and trauma are typically attributed to this disorder. But just because a kid is diagnosed with ODD, does not mean they will become criminals or killers. I believe the escalation was a mix of the hostile family environment she helped create, yet still lived in. It would have tied in with the adrenaline of a forbidden love and the dark fantasy in which she and Jeremy lived. They fed off each other’s negativity and dark sides, planning the murders of her parents who tried to keep them apart. A disturbing fantasy would have felt exciting. It’s likely that Jeremy, despite his actual age, was still in a teenager’s mentality. His mother was an alcoholic who apparently had a string of abusive partners. Trauma can prevent the brain from developing properly and maturing.
Where are they now?
Under the Canadian Youth Criminal Justice Act, an offender under 14 years of age cannot be tried as an adult. J.R. was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to a maximum of ten years. She spent four years in a psychiatric institution, then another four and a half under conditional supervision in Calgary. Reports following her 2016 release claim she was a “thriving 22-year-old university student”. Today, she is believed to still be in Calgary or back in Medicine Hat, and has led a quiet life. She expressed remorse at her final hearing, where the judge said that her parents would be proud of her progress. Jeremy Steinke was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, convicted of three counts of first-degree murder. It is not known what became of their relationship.
The “Devil’s Daughter”
Sharon Carr, on the other hand, knew nothing but violence and hostility. Her mother was abusive and cruel. Sharon’s upbringing was filled with all the red flags: abuse, neglect, no rules or boundaries, and a satisfaction from inflicting harm to others. Her mother taught her voodoo and animal sacrifice. Many neighbours in Camberley, England, believed Sharon killed their pets, yet they feared the young girl. She’d go on to be the youngest female killer in Britain’s history.
A teenage girl who murders an adult stranger is almost unheard of, according to an episode of “Killer Kids” with Jo Frost, which explored the life and crimes of Sharon Carr. In Peter Vronsky's book, “Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters”, he discusses an FBI study comparing male and female serial killers. Many family backgrounds saw a disruption to infant bonding with the mother. In 66 percent of the cases, the mother was the dominant parent. In most scenarios, the father had left before the child turned 12. Sharon Carr’s father was left behind in Belize when her mother moved Sharon and her to England to marry a man with money. Not only did Sharon have an abrupt uprooting of her entire life, she never settled into England. Due to her mother’s volatile behaviour, the marriage crumbled. A study by Keeney-Heide found that 100 percent of the female serial killers studied had suffered physical, psychological and sexual abuse in adolescence.
Image by Estefano Burmistrov from Pixabay
Sharon doesn’t meet the qualifications for a true serial killer. The FBI classifies a serial killer as one who has committed three or more killings which share common characteristics and has a cooling down period in between the crimes. Anti-social personality disorder also doesn’t get diagnosed until the age of 15. But Sharon was well on her way. On June 7, 1992, 18-year-old hairdresser Katie Rackliff was walking home from a nightclub when Sharon Carr attacked her. Katie was stabbed around 30 times and died. It was such a jarring reminder of Jack the Ripper, the police thought they were hunting for a male offender. It had all the indications of a male: genital mutilation that indicated a sexual motivation and the sheer gruesomeness would never have made one think of a 12-year-old girl.
Exactly two years later on June 7, 1994, Sharon attacked a schoolgirl in a bathroom with four-inch knife to the lungs. Sharon was caught red-handed when other people walked in. While serving a two-year sentence at an institution, she bragged about killing Katie Rackliff. Police searched her home and found her diaries which also bragged about the murder and how much she enjoyed it. While locked up for the knife attack, Sharon also attacked two nurses. She was convicted of Katie’s murder in March 1997.
Profile
Women don’t tend to use overkill. But given that she had already been decapitating and torturing animals, it’s not a huge surprise Sharon escalated to slaying an unexpecting woman. Sharon enjoyed the level of savagery. In a world where she could only watch the violence and chaos around her, taking a life was something she could control. Practicing voodoo served the same purpose.
I once saw a meme asking why teenage girls become fascinated with witchcraft. Girls and women live in a world we learn to fear. We seek something we can control. Most teenage girls either grow out of their witchcraft phase or become peaceful human beings. Few become raging murderers. But legitimate witchcraft also establishes boundaries and warns against harming others. Sharon Carr never had boundaries. Her mother showed her this behaviour was acceptable. While her mother was physically present, she was emotionally absent and incapable of nurturing Sharon when she needed it most. Children who lack that nurturing in their early years are more likely to develop anti-social behaviours as they become teenagers.
Sharon was diagnosed with schizo-effective disorder. This is a mental illness impacting moods and thoughts, and can have a mixture of symptoms from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Psychosis might also be present. Sharon was known to use cannabis. In people under 25, studies show that cannabis use can inhibit brain development and can cause psychosis. The roots for anti-social behaviour were already there. She likely started using cannabis to self-medicate, though it possibly had the adverse effect in combination with her mental issues and violent tendencies. Drug use gave her a way to control her emotions for the first time. Murder gave her the ultimate sense of power. The need for control simply escalated. In her diaries, Sharon went on about how killing was her “business” and how “business is good.” Criminologist Dr. Elizabeth Yardley, who appeared in the “Killer Kids” episode, said the entries were Sharon’s way of reliving the power and control she felt during the murder.
Where are they now?
In March 2020, it was reported that Sharon Carr faced life imprisonment after fantasizing about killing a fellow inmate. She is 40-years old and will never be free. She has never shown remorse for her actions. She remains in HMP Bronzefield in Southwest London, deemed too unstable to release, despite her minimum sentence of 12 years having passed.
Comparisons
The biggest difference between the two girls is obvious. Their childhoods were polar opposites. J.R. came from a normal, middle class family. Sharon didn’t stand a chance at ever knowing normalcy.
Both girls lived in a fantasy world. J.R. and Jeremy were lost in their internet fantasy where her parents were dead and they were free to be together. Sharon was introduced to voodoo and animal cruelty, leaving a morbid impression on her developing mind, blurring the lines between right and wrong, reality and her alternate world. In her diaries, she called herself the “destroyer of life”. Both girls displayed a level of savagery that is highly unusual for female killers.
One thing both girls sought in their lives was control. J.R. maybe didn’t understand something was wrong with her. Perhaps her parents didn’t know what kind of help she needed. It’s no secret that getting an accurate mental health diagnosis can be treacherous. If her parents couldn’t rein her in to obey basic rules, how would they get her through the numerous appointments and tests to diagnose and treat her? Sadly, it was much too late when J.R. did get diagnosed. The damage was done. She did, however, express remorse and seems to have been rehabilitated. If she stays the course and maintains care of her mental health, she can continue leading a quiet life.
Sharon Carr, on the other hand, has never expressed remorse nor shown any desire to be rehabilitated. I think the fact that J.R. never experienced abuse like Sharon did is the key. Not every abused kid goes on to be a killer or criminal of any kind. Many become productive adults. Some simply never seem to escape the demons. Sharon’s empathy would have been damaged at a young age, with her mother being emotionally absent. She would have no way of relating to others, or making genuine human connections. J.R. didn’t have this early damage to her empathy or emotional well-being. Perhaps she would have been better controlled had Jeremy never come into the picture. She wouldn’t have been so desperate to control a fantasy world she created with him, and maybe more willing to focus on her mental issues. Sharon fed upon the violence and chaos she knew. J.R. fed off the darkness of another person and his influence. Environment seems to be what made the difference between the two, and the sense of (or lack of) self-accountability. Was Sharon ever offered help, or did she refuse it?
Conclusion
Watching the “Killer Kids” episode on Sharon Carr made me think of J.R.’s case and the striking differences between the girls. This was quite the rabbit hole to jump down in researching both cases, the criminal psychology and the disorders with which they were diagnosed. But fascinating.
For more information, here is a list of certain things I touched on and where I got my research:
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