Rhode Island is tiny. People know each other. Neighbors talk across fences in Warwick and Cranston, and news travels through the state like wildfire. But in the late 1980s, that sense of small-town safety evaporated. The serial killer Rhode Island eventually identified wasn't a shadowy drifter or a calculated mastermind from out of town. He was a kid. He was fifteen years old, living right down the street, and he was arguably one of the most terrifying figures in American criminal history.
His name is Craig Price.
If you grew up in New England during that era, the name still carries a heavy weight. Most people think of serial killers as older men—think Bundy or Gacy—but Price shattered that profile. He started his spree at thirteen. Honestly, the sheer brutality of his crimes, combined with his age, forced the state of Rhode Island to fundamentally rewrite its juvenile justice laws. It had to. The system wasn't built for someone like him.
The Night in Buttonwoods That Changed Everything
Imagine a quiet neighborhood in Warwick. It’s 1989. Joan Heaton and her two young daughters, Jennifer and Melissa, were found murdered in their home. It wasn't just a crime; it was a bloodbath. The scene was so horrific that veteran investigators were visibly shaken. They found dozens of stab wounds. Kitchen knives were snapped off inside the victims. It felt personal, but also chaotic.
The police were stumped. They looked for adult suspects, naturally. They looked for disgruntled boyfriends or career criminals. Nobody was looking at the husky teenager who played football and lived a few houses away.
But Craig Price had a history. He’d already killed before, though nobody knew it yet. Two years earlier, he had murdered Rebecca Spencer, a 27-year-old woman living in the same neighborhood. He was thirteen at the time. He stabbed her 58 times. Think about that for a second. A middle-schooler committed a crime of such extreme violence that police assumed it was the work of a crazed adult. He just went back to school the next day. He lived his life. He watched the news.
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Why the Juvenile System Failed
The real shocker—the thing that still keeps legal experts up at night—was how the law handled him. Because Price was fifteen when he was caught for the Heaton murders, Rhode Island law at the time dictated he had to be tried as a juvenile.
Under the statutes of the late 80s, a juvenile murderer could only be held until their 21st birthday. Period. It didn't matter if you killed one person or twenty. It didn't matter if you were a sociopath. At 21, you were legally a "rehabilitated" adult and you walked free with a clean slate.
The public went ballistic.
The idea that a triple-murderer (who later confessed to the Spencer killing, making it four) could be back on the streets of Warwick by the time he could legally buy a beer was unthinkable. The "Ironman" nickname he had in the neighborhood took on a much darker meaning. This legal loophole is why the serial killer Rhode Island case became a national flashpoint for "tough on crime" legislation.
The state legislature moved at lightning speed. They passed the "O’Neil Bill," named after the representative who pushed it, which allowed for juvenile offenders to be "waived" into adult court for serious crimes. But there was a catch: it couldn't be applied retroactively to Price.
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Life Behind Bars and the Psychology of a Teen Killer
Price didn't just go away quietly. Since he couldn't be kept in prison past 21 for the murders, the state had to get creative. They had to watch him like a hawk. Every time he stepped out of line in the juvenile facility, they tacked on more time.
He was violent. He assaulted guards. He made threats.
Basically, the Department of Corrections used his behavior inside the walls to ensure he never saw the outside. By the time he hit his 21st birthday, he had racked up enough additional "adult" charges for contempt and assault that he was transferred to a maximum-security prison. He’s been there, or in out-of-state facilities, ever since.
Psychologists who evaluated him, like those cited in various parole hearings over the decades, often noted a complete lack of remorse. He wasn't some misunderstood kid who made a mistake. He was a predator. This brings up a weirdly uncomfortable truth about the American justice system: we really don't like to admit that children can be beyond saving. But Price forced that conversation into the light.
Other Shadows: The "Rhode Island Serial Killer" Mythos
While Craig Price is the most documented serial killer Rhode Island has produced, he isn't the only name that pops up in true crime circles. There are others that people often confuse or conflate.
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You've got the "Beast of the Bluffs," though that's more of an urban legend mixed with fragmented history. Then there’s the connection to the Connecticut River Valley Killer or the New Bedford Highway Killer, whose victims sometimes had ties to the Rhode Island area. Rhode Island is so small that a body found across the border in Seekonk or Attleboro is basically a local story.
However, none of those cases had the visceral impact of Price. Those were "out there." Price was right here. He was the kid who might have mowed your lawn.
The Impact on Warwick Today
If you visit the Buttonwoods section of Warwick today, it looks like any other suburban enclave. But the older generation remembers. They remember the fear of 1989. They remember the realization that the danger wasn't a stranger in a van—it was the boy next door.
The Heaton house was eventually torn down. A vacant lot or a new structure is a small mercy for a neighborhood that saw too much. But the legal legacy lives on. Rhode Island's juvenile justice system is now one of the most robust in terms of its ability to transition violent offenders to adult sentences. We have Craig Price to thank for that, if "thank" is even the right word.
Experts like Kevin J. Saunders, a law professor who has written extensively on juvenile homicide, often use Price as a case study. He represents the "statistical outlier." Most kids who commit crimes can be rehabilitated. Price proved that "most" isn't "all."
Actionable Steps for Understanding Criminal History
If you’re looking into the history of violent crime in New England or the specifics of the Price case, you shouldn't just rely on tabloid summaries. Here is how to actually dig into the facts:
- Search the Rhode Island Judiciary Records. You can look up the evolution of "waiver" laws in the state. These are the actual mechanisms that allow a 14 or 15-year-old to be tried as an adult today.
- Read the Parole Board transcripts. Price has had multiple hearings over the years. These documents offer a chilling look at his psyche and why he remains incarcerated decades after his original "release" date.
- Visit the Warwick Public Library's local history section. They keep archives of the original reporting from the Providence Journal. Reading the day-to-day accounts from 1989 provides a level of context that modern "true crime" podcasts often skip over.
- Understand the difference between Juvenile Reform and Adult Sentencing. Research the "O’Neil Bill" to see how Rhode Island balanced the need for rehabilitation with the necessity of public safety.
The story of the serial killer Rhode Island produced is a dark chapter, but it’s one that defined how we view juvenile accountability in America. It's a reminder that even in the smallest state, the biggest horrors can happen. It’s also a testament to how a community can force the law to change when the law fails to protect them. Price remains in Florida currently, serving time for an attempted murder of a fellow inmate, continuing a cycle of violence that started when he was just a child in Warwick.