In the late summer of 1989, the quiet community of Warwick, Rhode Island, was shattered by a crime of unimaginable brutality. Eight-year-old Melissa Heaton, a White female, became the youngest victim in a horrific triple homicide that also claimed the lives of her 39-year-old mother, Joan Heaton, and her 10-year-old sister, Jennifer. The gruesome discovery was made on September 4, 1989, when Melissa's grandmother and aunt, concerned after not hearing from the family over the Labor Day weekend,
entered their home on Metropolitan Drive. What they found was a scene of utter horror, with blood splattered throughout the interior of the house.
The bodies of Joan, Jennifer, and Melissa were found inside the home. The violence inflicted upon them was so extreme that it shocked even seasoned investigators. Melissa had been stabbed multiple times and her skull was crushed with a kitchen stool. The ferocity of the attack was such that the blade of one of the knives used broke off in her neck. Her mother, Joan, had been stabbed 57 times, bludgeoned, and strangled. Her sister, Jennifer, suffered 62 stab wounds. The sheer brutality and "overkill" displayed in the murders sent a wave of fear through the Warwick community.
The investigation into the heinous crime soon led police to a suspect living in the same neighborhood: 15-year-old Craig Price. Price, who was a neighbor of the Heatons, confessed to the murders on September 17, 1989. In his chilling confession, he detailed how he had snuck into the Heaton home through an open window with the initial intent to steal a VCR. When Joan Heaton discovered him, a violent struggle ensued, and he proceeded to murder her and her two daughters. Price also confessed to the 1987 murder of another woman, Rebecca Spencer, who had been stabbed 58 times.
Due to his age at the time of the murders, Craig Price was tried as a juvenile. Under Rhode Island law at the time, this meant he could only be incarcerated until he turned 21, at which point his record would be sealed. This prospect caused public outrage and a grassroots effort to keep him imprisoned. While incarcerated, Price committed a series of additional crimes, including assaults and threats, which resulted in further sentences that have kept him behind bars long past his initial release date.
