Episode 3: The Warwick Slasher
Craig Price and his family moved to Warwick, RI when he was young, and as a result, he was thrust into a world of nicer schools, peers of a higher economical class, and an underlying tone of racism in the community. Despite being the new kid, Craig was known for his dedication to sports, especially football, and became a prominent member of his sports teams. Due to his use of steroids at a young age, he was given the nickname of Ironman, and the fact that he was a very large, bulky teenager made him appear as if he was older than his young age.
Trouble followed Craig wherever he went- his friend group allowed for him to try drugs, such as marijuana, steroids, and LSD, and eventually this led to petty crimes. He began to find a particular interest in stealing, jumping other kids, and robbing homes. At a very early age, Craig was committing crimes that not only involved robbery, but murder.
When Craig was only 13 years old, he made the heinous decision to enter the house of Rebecca Spencer, a young mother of 2 children, who was working hard to move out on her own and start a solid foundation for her family. On this particular night in 1987, Rebecca had fallen asleep on the living room floor when Craig entered, looking to steal some electronics and find some money. He was not expecting to find Rebecca there, so he took matters into his own hands and fatally stabbed her 58 times. He left her to bleed out slowly, and eventually she died before her brother could come home from work and find her, still warm, in a pool of her blood.
Despite having committed the darkest of crimes, Craig got away with the murder of Rebecca for over 2 years before striking again. This time, 15 year old Craig entered the Heaton home looking for a VCR to steal when he woke up the mother, Joan Heaton. After getting into a physical altercation, Joan’s two young daughters, Jennifer and Melissa, were awoken and quickly became victims in Craig’s spree. After a vicious attack, each of the Heaton girls was stabbed to death, along with some blunt force trauma to their bodies. Just as he had done with Rebecca Spencer, Craig fled the scene, ditched his bloody clothes in his attic, and went on with his life.
His freedom was short-lived, as he was eventually named a suspect within very little time, and was apprehended. Due to his young age, Craig Price was tried as a juvenile, and sentenced to jail until he was only 21 years old- a mere 5 years. Luckily, due to his continuous bad behavior, Craig has remained in jail on several charges of assault and attempted murder for the last 30+ years, and will likely stay there until his death.
Image sources:
wpri.com - “Craig Price: A Matter of Time”
Murderpedia