CrimeAtlas

The Youngest Killers in History

Few facts are more unsettling than a killer who was barely more than a child. This list gathers cases documented on CrimeAtlas where the perpetrator was a teenager — or younger — at the time of the crimes, ordered from the youngest.

Ages reflect the perpetrator at the time of the offence, drawn from the public record. These are difficult cases involving real victims; each entry links to the full case file with the documented facts and sources.

  1. 1 Mary Bell Child Killings Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom · 1968 In 1968, 10- and 11-year-old Mary Bell strangled two young boys in Newcastle upon Tyne and was convicted of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.
  2. 2 Marysville Pilchuck High School Shooting Marysville, USA · 2014 A 15-year-old student shot five classmates in the school cafeteria, killing four, then took his own life.
  3. 3 The Novi Ligure Murders Novi Ligure, Italy · 2001 A 16-year-old girl and her teenage boyfriend stabbed her mother and 11-year-old brother to death in Novi Ligure, then falsely blamed an immigrant intruder.
  4. 4 Murder of Hae Min Lee (Adnan Syed / Serial) Baltimore, USA · 1999 Baltimore high school senior Hae Min Lee was strangled in 1999; her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed was convicted, a case later made famous by the podcast Serial.
  5. 5 Southport Stabbings Southport, United Kingdom · 2024 A 17-year-old stabbed children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in Southport, killing three young girls and injuring ten others.
  6. 6 Disappearance and Murder of Natalee Holloway Oranjestad, Aruba · 2005 Alabama teen Natalee Holloway vanished during a graduation trip to Aruba in 2005; Joran van der Sloot confessed in 2023 to killing her on a beach and disposing of her body.
  7. 7 Winnenden School Shooting Winnenden, Germany · 2009 A 17-year-old former student killed 15 people at his old school in Winnenden, Germany, and during his flight, before taking his own life.
  8. 8 Buffalo Tops Supermarket Mass Shooting Buffalo, USA · 2022 An 18-year-old white supremacist shot 13 people, killing 10, at a Tops supermarket in a predominantly Black Buffalo neighborhood in a racially motivated attack.
  9. 9 Columbine High School Massacre Littleton, Colorado, USA · 1999 Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 13 people at Columbine High School in the deadliest school shooting of its time.
  10. 10 The Munich OEZ Shooting Munich, Germany · 2016 An 18-year-old gunman opened fire at and around the Olympia shopping centre in Munich, killing nine people, most of them teenagers, before taking his own life.
  11. 11 Murder of Junko Furuta (Concrete-Encased Schoolgirl) Tokyo, Japan · 1989 A 17-year-old Tokyo schoolgirl was kidnapped and held captive for around 40 days by four teenage boys, who tortured, raped, and murdered her, then encased her body in concrete.
  12. 12 Jokela School Shooting Jokela, Tuusula, Finland · 2007 An 18-year-old student opened fire at Jokela High School in southern Finland, killing eight people before fatally shooting himself.
  13. 13 The Beheading of Schoolteacher Samuel Paty Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, France · 2020 French middle-school teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded near his school after showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a class on freedom of expression.
  14. 14 Suzane von Richthofen Parricide Sao Paulo, Brazil · 2002 Brazilian teenager Suzane von Richthofen orchestrated the murder of her sleeping parents with her boyfriend and his brother at the family home in Sao Paulo in 2002.
  15. 15 Uvalde Robb Elementary School Shooting Uvalde, USA · 2022 An 18-year-old gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in one of the deadliest U.S.
  16. 16 West Memphis Three (Robin Hood Hills Murders) West Memphis, USA · 1993 Three 8-year-old boys were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993; three teenagers were convicted in a case widely seen as a wrongful conviction and freed in 2011.

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