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Georgia teen killed parents to buy drugs

When US Marshals found Holly Harvey the day after she stabbed her grandparents to death, they found a to-do list on her arm that simply read: 'Kill, keys, money, jewelry.'

The callous list showed how little the 15-year-old and her girlfriend, Sandy Ketchum, 16, cared for the lives of the elderly couple when they butchered them like animals - partly in pursuit of drugs, and partly to continue their illicit affair unhindered.

But that chilling discovery was just one grisly detail in a case that exposed the dark heart of a suburban Georgia family's life, the New York Daily News reported.

Baby-faced killer: Holly Harvey (pictured at her hearing in 2004) was just 15 when she stabbed her grandparents to death in the basement of their Fayetteville, Georgia home

Baby-faced killer: Holly Harvey (pictured at her hearing in 2004) was just 15 when she stabbed her grandparents to death in the basement of their Fayetteville, Georgia home

Victims: Harvey plotted to kill Carl and Sarah Collier, 73 and 74, partly to steal their truck to buy drugs, and partly because they disapproved of her lesbian relationship

Victims: Harvey plotted to kill Carl and Sarah Collier, 73 and 74, partly to steal their truck to buy drugs, and partly because they disapproved of her lesbian relationship

Carl and Sarah Collier, aged 73 and 74, had adopted Harvey's mom, Carla, in 1967, when she was just a baby.

But while their other adopted child, Kevin, grew up into a hardworking young man, Carla turned to drink, drugs and stripping, eventually getting pregnant with a man who was rendered paraplegic in a car accident.

When Carla was locked up for dealing drugs and driving under the influence, the Colliers took Harvey into their Fayetteville home, hoping to turn their granddaughter's life around.

That would end badly for them all.

Harvey was rebellious and antisocial, and had a taste for drugs - traits that the Colliers believed were made worse by her association with her girlfriend, Sandy Ketchum.

Ketchum, who had been abused by at least two of her father's four wives during the course of her life, quickly formed a bond with Harvey, much to the Colliers' dismay.

They tried to stop their granddaughter from seeing the girl - at least in part because they disapproved of the girls' lesbian relationship, Harvey later told a court - but the pair pined for one another, and Ketchum even wrote about contemplating suicide.

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The couple began seeing each other in secret, and on August 2, 2004, they hit upon the idea of picking up some weed and cocaine from a local drug dealer.

But to get there they would need a vehicle. And her grandparents wouldn't just give them their truck.

So, almost casually, Harvey suggested they murder them.

It may have sounded like a sick joke, but the girls approached the task with glee, plotting the murder down to the last detail.

Killers: Harvey (right) and girlfriend Sandy Ketchum (left), 16, killed the couple in August 2004 - but not before practicing their knifework on Harvey's mattress

Killers: Harvey (right) and girlfriend Sandy Ketchum (left), 16, killed the couple in August 2004 - but not before practicing their knifework on Harvey's mattress

After writing off clubbing them to death with a lamp - the couple might survive, the girls agreed - they stole knives from the kitchen, and began practicing the killing by stabbing Harvey's mattress and pictures of puppies on her wall.

Then they went down to the couple's basement, and sparked up some weed, knowing that the smell would attract the couple.

Just as planned, Carl and Sarah knocked on the basement door to say they wanted to collect a suitcase from a cupboard there.

But once they had entered the room, the girls set upon them with the knives - Harvey closing her eyes and stabbing her grandmother first.

Carl then pinned the girl down, but she stabbed him in the chest. 

He fled upstairs to call police and Harvey gave chase, pulling the phone cord out of the wall to stop his call. 

They stuggled for the knife before she wrested it from his grip and plunged it repeatedly into his body.

Arrested: The girls lured the elders into their basement with the smell of pot before stabbing them. They then fled but were arrested the following day by US Marshals

Arrested: The girls lured the elders into their basement with the smell of pot before stabbing them. They then fled but were arrested the following day by US Marshals

'I closed my eyes, and I just started stabbing my grandpa real fast,' she said in court in 2005. 'Then the last time that I stabbed my grandpa, a lot of blood come on me.' 

Ketchum, meanwhile, was downstairs killing Carl's stricken wife.

The girls then took her cellphone and the keys to the couple's blue truck, and headed off.

That evening a neighbor called Kevin Collier over to his parents' house, where he found the bodies of his adoptive parents in the basement.

Guilty: Both girls pleaded guilty and were given life sentences. Harvey was given the option of parole after 20 years. Ketchum (pictured) could get parole after 14 years

Guilty: Both girls pleaded guilty and were given life sentences. Harvey was given the option of parole after 20 years. Ketchum (pictured) could get parole after 14 years

'Holly must have done this,' he said. 

US Marshals then tracked the girls down overnight using Susan's cellphone and found them in the Georgia holiday resort of Tybee Island.

The pair pleaded guilty - Ketchum showing signs of remorse and agreeing to testify against her girlfriend, prosecutors later said - and were sentenced to life in prison in 2005.

Ketchum would be offered parole after 14 years; Harvey after 20. 

Judge Pascal English asked Harvey why she had butchered the couple who had cared for her, News4Jax reported at the time. 

She told him: 'For Sandy, so that we could be together.'

And when he asked if she thought doing 20 years in prison after murdering her grandparents was 'a good deal', she said no.

What should happen to her, he asked? 

'I think I should be dead,' the girl replied.

'We both agree on that,' he muttered. 

Scene of the crime: The couple were found in the basement of their home (pictured). They had been looking after Harvey after her mom was imprisoned on DUI and drug dealing charges 

Scene of the crime: The couple were found in the basement of their home (pictured). They had been looking after Harvey after her mom was imprisoned on DUI and drug dealing charges 

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Larita Shotwell

Update: 2024-09-14