Every officer with a decent amount of time on the job knows the unexpected turns an investigation can take. Seeing a major case through to completion often involves giving up on a theory and taking your investigation in a different direction as new information becomes available. In How to Catch A Criminal, we look at the many ways not-so-perfect crimes are solved. This month, impressionable young men do the unthinkable.

According to legend, girls just want to have fun. In fairness, so do boys, and to some extent, adults. Surely everyone has memories of hanging out with friends on a Friday night, just looking for something fun to do. Maybe stay in and watch a movie, go for a swim, ride bikes around the neighborhood, or even find creative ways to dispose of your report card before your parents see it. Whatever it took to make memories and have a good time. As children mature and their brains shift from childhood to adulthood, there is a period where childhood lack of responsibility clashes with a longing for grown-up freedom. This clash helps create the perfect storm, where impulse control fails, and a need for excitement flourishes. This is what makes peer pressure such a powerful phenomenon. Abandoning reason in exchange for the reward of social praise is a hallmark of the teenage experience, occasionally with fatal results.

Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, is a picturesque small town with only a few thousand residents. It is quaint, idyllic and safe. In fact, there hadn't been a murder there in decades until 2009, when the quiet town was shaken by one of the vilest acts imaginable. The details of the murder would make you think the Manson Family had come to town, but the culprit and motive behind it was entirely unexpected. 17-year-old Steven Spader was a high-school dropout whose life peaked during his time as a Boy Scout. Spader wanted to be the leader of his own troop, so he declared himself president of the “Disciples of Destruction." Prior to dropping out of his top-rated, preppy high school, Spader had bragged to his friends about being a member of the Crips, so the gangster life was nothing new to him. Of course you can't have a gang without members, so Spader sought a few street soldiers whom he could preside over. Now, to a well-adjusted adult, anything President Spader says would obviously be poppycock, but to impressionable teenage boys who only know small town peace and quiet, joining a gang might sound like a blast.

When Steven was beginning his foray into the life of a gang leader, his personality had been descending into sociopathy for some time. A few years prior, a psychologist determined Steven was becoming unrestrained, as well as isolating himself. He had even threatened his father with a knife, which resulted in prolonged psychiatric treatment. His senior year of high school saw his attendance decline until he dropped out and opted for a GED program instead. Leaving school didn't cut him off from his friends and soon-to-be fellow Disciples of Destruction. In addition to bragging about his supposed Crip affiliations, Steven Spader would tell his friends his more troubling thoughts. He told them he wanted to kill someone. Not only that, but he wanted to eat his victims and stage their corpses, perhaps even decapitate them and place their heads on stakes. Spader recruited his friends Christopher Gribble, William Marks, and Quinn Glover to join his gang.

Naturally, the worthy president of the Disciples of Destruction devised an initiation ritual for his acolytes. They needed to prove themselves worthy by causing a bit of havoc. The boys drove around town in late September looking for a target. They settled on a remote home on a rural road, surrounded by plenty of trees for cover. Their goal was to break in, take whatever they wanted, and hit the road. These budding anarchists weren’t all on the same page, however. Steven Spader and Christopher Gribble were hoping to run into the homeowner so they could carry out their murderous fantasies. Spader elected to bring along a machete, while Gribble chose a fillet knife. On the night of October 4, 2009, the boys made their way to their chosen house, where Spader broke in through a window and opened the front door for the others. Inside, they flipped the main breaker to kill the power before heading to the master bedroom. There, they found 42-year-old Kimberly Cates, asleep in her bed. When Kimberly detected the presence of an intruder and called out, Steven Spader led the charge. He jumped on top of her and began stabbing and slashing her again and again while Gribble did the same. Quinn Glover turned away and covered his ears as he realized his friends weren’t kidding when they said they wanted to kill someone; they were really doing it, and without hesitation. Kimberly screamed out to her daughter, 11-year-old Jaimie Cates, to run. Unfortunately, Jaimie, who was also sleeping in the master bedroom and was awakened by the terror unfolding next to her, was not able to get away. Christopher Gribble attacked her, stabbing her in the face and lungs, before picking her up and smashing her into a sliding glass door. Kimberly Cates was dead, and Jaimie did not have long to live. Spader and his followers grabbed a few pieces of jewelry and fled the house.

A 911 call led police to the Cates’ residence, where they found the caller, Jaimie Cates, clinging to life. She played dead during the attack, which led Gribble to end his assault on her. She managed to fight through her injuries long enough to call for help and miraculously survived. Meanwhile, Spader and his crew enlisted a fifth man to establish their alibi. They bragged to their friend, Autumn Savoy, and talked him into disposing of the bloodied clothes they wore during the crime. Savoy went along with the story that everyone was spending the night at his house and hadn’t left all night. Savoy also threw the bag of clothes into a nearby river.

Meanwhile, the boys pawned the stolen jewelry for a little over $100. By now, the investigation was well under way, and the gruesome crime scene was being processed. This was quite possibly the most heinous crime to have ever taken place in peaceful Mont Vernon, and the killers could not be allowed to get away with it or strike again. Luckily, one friend of the “disciples” was not interested in being an accessory after the fact. When Spader and Gribble bragged to another boy they knew, he did what any good kid would do. He told his mom. Mom in turn told the police, and Spader, Gribble, Marks, Glover, and Savoy were brought in for questioning. Savoy broke, and admitted his involvement, along with the details the rest of the boys shared with him. The rest played dumb until Gribble spilled the beans. He painted Spader as the leader of the group and the mastermind behind the burglary and murder. He also admitted he and Spader had wanted to kill someone for a long time.

The bag of clothing was pulled from the river and was easy to tie to the case. This was thanks to Steven Spader writing on his sweatshirt, “This is Steve’s sweatshirt. Steve who is awesome." The judge in this case did not agree with that sentiment and sentenced Spader to life in prison, plus 76 years. Gribble also received a life sentence. Marks got 30 years, and Glover got 20. Autumn Savoy got 5 years for hindering prosecution and conspiracy. Present in the courtroom during sentencing was Jaimie Cates. As of 2019, Jaimie was pursuing a career in healthcare, just like her mother, who was a nurse.