Craig Price

Confirmed Kills
4
Suspected Kills
4
Total Possible Kills
8
Years Active
1987–1989
DOB
October 11, 1973
Zodiac
Libra
Gender
Male
Race
Black
Identified
Yes
Status
Incarcerated
Alive or Dead?
In Prison
US States Operated
Rhode Island
Country
US
Synopsis
Info Box

Craig Chandler Price was born on October 11, 1973 and is an American serial killer from Warwick, Rhode Island. He was commonly referred to as “The Warwick Slasher” and he was arrested in 1989 after murdering a woman and her two daughters in his neighborhood, plus one person killed two years earlier. Prior to this he had an existing criminal record for petty theft.

Early Life

As an adolescent, Craig Price was not the ideal picture of good behavior. He racked up a record of breaking and entering, robbery, stalking, drug use and assault occasionally with his own family members during his teen years. Despite all his illegal activities while he was growing up, he was known throughout the neighbourhood as a kind and well-natured young man.

Murders

Craig Price is a cold-blooded murderer. At the age of 13, Price broke into a house that was conveniently located only two houses over from his own where he savagely stabbed to death 27 year old Rebecca Spencer 58 times!  The incident that took place on July 27, 1987 shocked the neighborhood where Rebecca Spencer lived and many wondered how her killer could be found. It seemed as though no one else knew what happened that night other than Craig Price himself.

Two years later Price broke into yet another house in his neighborhood. While venturing inside to see what to steal, he encountered Joan (the mother), who was attacked and beaten. Her screams woke up her two daughters Jennifer and Melissa. Like last time, Price ripped a knife from the kitchen and stabbed all three members of the Heaton family. As if that weren’t bad enough, he committed such a brutal attack that even the knife handles broke off (with blades still stuck in their bodies). Price was high on marijuana and LSD during the attack. 

Arrest and Incarceration

In the 1989 case of Craig Price, investigators interrogated the suspect and noticed that he had a cut on his hand. Price excused this injury as unrelated to the night of the murder, but failed a lie-detector test. Afterwards, investigators obtained a search warrant for his house and found bloody knives and clothing in his possession. They then interrogated him about the murders to which he quickly confessed without remorse, even mimicking the dying sounds of the young girls he had killed.

Craig Price was thrown into prison at the young age of 16 and was tried as a minor by law. By that right, he was scheduled to be released when he reached the age of 21. The case turned out to be controversial as many states around this time were debating whether or not minors should still get tried as adults for serious crimes like murder or rape in cases where there is no other possible way to protect society. The state decided to amend their laws and Price was denied his freedom when he reached adulthood. Residents of the State of Rhode Island formed a lobby group titled Citizens Opposed To the Release of Craig Price which asked that Craig never be let out onto the streets ever again because his character shows no signs of rehabilitation and therefore it would be just too risky for society as a whole!

During his time as a prisoner at Warren Correctional Institution, Craig Price got in trouble with the authorities. He was given additional charges with numerous counts such as criminal contempt for refusing a psychological evaluation, extortion for threatening that same correctional officer, assault, and violating his probation by fighting from time to time. He has since been sentenced to another 10–25 years depending on his cooperation with treatment.

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