u/DewyBloom_

Ellie Gould was a 17-year-old girl from Calne in Wiltshire, England. Ellie was bright and had ambitions to join the police and study psychology. In early 2019, Ellie got into a relationship with 17-year-old Thomas Griffiths who she had known since she was 11. Thomas was Eliie’s first ever boyfriend. Ellie began to feel smothered by Thomas and decided to break up with him to focus on her studies. Thomas refused to accept the end of the relationship and on May 3rd 2019, he left school and went back to his house where he hid from his mother. When his mother left, he drove to Ellie’s house. Ellie and Thomas argued about the breakup where Thomas attempted to strangle her, he then took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her in the neck 13 times, killing her.

He then cleaned up the crime scene and washed his shoes as an attempt to get rid of any blood. He cleaned the knife with an apron and put it in Ellie's hand in order to make it look like she had taken her own life. He grabbed Ellie’s hand and used her fingerprint to unlock her phone. He messaged one of her friend’s who was due to pick her up, pretending to be Ellie, telling her not to bother picking her up. He put a bag of his bloodied clothes in a nearby woodland. He then texted her friends from his phone saying that he and Ellie were going on a break. Her body was discovered in her kitchen by her father.

Police matched blood on Thomas’ shoes to Ellie’s. He also had defensive wounds on his neck. Thomas will serve a life sentence of which a minimum of twelve and a half years must be served before being considered for parole.

Ellie’s mother introduced Ellie’s Law which enabled young offenders to be treated as adults if they committed a crime such as murder.

Further Reading: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-63823585

Ethan Austin was a 12-year-old boy scout living in Hansen Park in Washington State. He had an older sister called Kaitlin who was 16-years-old. There was no animosity reported between the siblings. Both children enjoyed hobbies - Ethan loved camping, golfing and hunting and Kaitlin loved to play softball.

The weekend before the murder-suicide took place, Ethan had visited a friend and rode his bike through the neighbourhood before watching his sister play softball. A friend reported nothing seeming off about the siblings at the game. However on the day that the shooting happened, Ethan did not seem himself at school according to a friend. Ethan, a usually very sociable individual was now withdrawn and distressed about something but he wouldn’t say what.

Ethan then returned home where Kaitlin was - she had arrived home shortly before. Ethan then retrieved a handgun from its case and shot his sister eight times. It was later reported that Kaitlin had also been sexually assaulted. After killing Kaitlin, Ethan took his own life via gunshot wound to the head.

Their father discovered their bodies on Kaitlin’s bedroom floor.

‘’No motive was identified for the incident’’ said County Coroner John Hansens.

Further Reading: https://amp.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article32207169.html