Kids Who Kill: Case 4: Sandy Charles

by Kathryn McMaster

WARNING:
This story contains grisly and gruesome details of a child murder that some readers may find disturbing.

A child has been murdered and horribly mutilated in Canada; skin stripped to render the fat for later consumption.

Rumors spread of a monster on the loose, satanic cults, and ritual killings. It is a murder so grotesque people are kept in the dark by police authorities fearing they are not ready to hear the details. The killing is so horrific even the media is kept away for fear of creating a frenzy.

They may be monsters, but the community is unprepared when killer-kids, 14-year-old Sandy Charles and his 7-year-old accomplice, William Martin, are connected to the crime. Names that forevermore will conjure up images of abject depravity and the embodiment of pure evil.

As the layers to teen-killer Sandy Charles are revealed, it becomes chillingly obvious the youngster is dealing with some serious issues that may never be fixed.

If you enjoy Ann Rule's true crime books, you will enjoy these, by bestselling author, Kathryn McMaster.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

113 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 28, 2019

About the author

Kathryn graduated from the University of Natal, Durban in 1980 with a double degree in English Literature and Psychology. The following year she completed her teaching diploma, and later on a TESOL diploma through Trinity College, London to teach English to adults as a second language. For the majority of her working life she worked in Education, both in the classroom, and in management. She is a co-founder of www.onestopfiction.com a website for both authors and readers for free and discounted books.

Kathryn is a writer of true crime and true crime fact-fiction. Her earlier books written as true crime fact-fiction transport you to a different era. She crafts stories around murders in the USA or unsolved murders of the Victorian and Edwardian eras highlighting poor policing practices with a rudimentary knowledge of Forensic Science that allowed the guilty to walk free, and the innocent to hang.

Kathryn’s books are further enhanced by her in-depth knowledge and training in Psychology, Criminal Profiling and a partial Masters of Forensic Science (Investigation) which she draws on to analyze each crime in the Afterword.

She has long had a fascination with crime and the criminal mind, looking at the ‘why’ rather than the ‘how’.

Her first true crime book was as best seller and was entitled “Who Killed Little Johnny Gill?”

This book covers the shocking murder and mutilation of an eight-year old boy in Bradford, England. The murder was so heinous that it was thought, at one stage, to have been the work of Jack the Ripper.

Kathryn continues to write from her 200 year old stone farmhouse in the beautiful and wild Casentino Valley, Tuscany.

Reviews

[Colin Garrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a child is murdered and horribly mutilated in the small community of La Ronge, Saskatchewan, rumours of ritual killings and satanic cults quickly spread among the townsfolk, not helped by the slow reaction of the police to find the killer. In fact, the manner of the killing is so grotesque police are reluctant to release details, fearing the community may not be able to deal with the reality of the crime. When officers do make their move, they arrest 14-year-old Sandy Charles and his 7-year-old accomplice, William Martin.

The fourth book in Kathryn McMaster’s True Crime Press Series, focuses on the horrific murder of 7-year-old Johnathan Thimpsen in 1995. As always Ms McMaster tells the story with great attention to detail, using court transcripts, eyewitness accounts and interviews to create a thoroughly well-researched record, exploring the crime, the killer’s state of mind and the effects on the community. Given the brutal nature of the murder, the writing is sensitive and thoughtful, and provides an insight into the ordeal suffered by the families of the children involved, as well as the people of La Ronge, following this appalling crime.

This story includes many gruesome details that some readers may find disturbing.

[Caz C Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cold shivers down my spine, my mind in an uproar after having found myself exploring the mental state of child killer Sandy Charles. A horrific, unspeakable crime has been committed within the mining town of La Ronge, Saskatchewan – home of the Cree.

Introduction
Within the rough exterior of Northern Canada lies the little mining town of La Ronge. After having been almost inaccessible due to lack of roads leading towards it, the Cree culture and traditions – once strongly embedded within the community, fades. Added to that, the arrival of salaried working causes unemployment in La Ronge.

The circumstances are hard and children barely have time to experience a carefree childhood. Elder children have to take care of the younger ones while their mothers go out to earn some money for food. At least, this was the case in Jean Charles’s home. Sandy’s father died when he was three, his siblings, a younger brother and sister, are from different fathers.

Sandy is a good elder brother to them. That is until the ghosts take over. By then, he is 13 years old but he claims to have heard them since he was 3 – coinciding with the death of his father. It is this growing darkness surrounding him that leads him to the horrible acts of 8 July 1995. The day the lights went out for 7-year-old Johnathan Thimpsen.

My Thoughts
How on earth can something so horrific happen? What possesses a 13-year-old boy to come up with the idea let alone execute it? Even if the images kept hurdling through my mind, still I was unable to fully fathom poor little Johnathan meeting his gruesome end in this horrible way.

Kathryn McMaster relates a fascinating story, in all its hideousness, about this tragedy and shares with us the circumstances in which it happened. She does this expertly by setting the scene – by showing us the society Sandy Charles and his little victim lived in. The author has deliberately written down the details as they are – barely colouring it in, only sharing the facts and circumstances.

This shows her talent and extensive research into the murders she investigates in her true crime series Kids Who Kill. What Kathryn does, is weave the murder against the setting of that time – she takes us with her to the village and the trial; her narrative is detailed and gives you insight into the proceedings, such as the deliberations of the judge in question.

This book reads like an intriguing, fascinating, and extensive paper on the topic with all the relevant info disclosed. There is no judgment, no trying to get behind the characters but a sort of ‘journalistic approach relating to facts from witness interviews and other research material.

We do not get to know any of the characters, we merely perceive things as they happened and assume from proceedings why some decisions were made – this leaves a lot of questions open but also makes for a well-written and excellently investigated narrative leaving judgments and opinions in the hands of the reader.

There were so many thoughts in my head after reading the book. What was his accomplish’s role in all of this? Did Sandy speak the truth after? Is Sandy Charles a demon or a product of a failing society? I refuse to believe it is solely watching violent films or playing video games that make someone a murderer – there has to be more. An inkling? A childhood ending too soon? Nurture or nature – this is a topic I find utterly intriguing. Can you blame circumstances and if so, does it make someone less responsible?

Kids Who Kill case 4: Sandy Charles. Intriguing, shocking, fascinating.

Read the review on my website: https://www.bitsaboutbooks.net/kids-w...

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, but frustrating, read

This is the only treatment I have ever seen of the life and crime of Sandy Charles and I bought it eagerly. Just about all the information in here was new to me. The book also increased my knowledge of Johnathan Thimpsen's other killer by about 99.9%. It really alarmed me that a single judge was left to weigh out all the conflicting expert testimony in a very specialized field -- psychosis and criminal responsibility in children -- and make a determination. I was very relieved to learn that Sandy is not participating in treatment much at all, guaranteeing that he will be locked up for a long time to come. But wherefore his accomplice??? The writing was so clumsy that I was shocked to see at the end of the book that this author has a considerable background in English lit and should show much better mastery of sentence structure and verb tenses.

[C.A. Asbrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another triumph by Kathryn McMaster. She doesn't shy away from difficult subject matter and this book must have been difficult to work on. The Sandy Charles case leaves us wondering whether monsters are made or born, as he was a quiet responsible child until he hit puberty. This is the classic time for Schizophrenia to manifest itself, but we also know that certain disadvantaged groups have a higher than average occurrence of the disorder, showing that there is definitely a social factor in play. The murder itself was horrific, and Kathryn sensitively handles the case without shying away from difficult aspects. I find these insights on real crimes endlessly fascinating and thought-provoking, and the author isn't afraid to ask questions about the younger accomplice either. Another book I highly recommend for lovers of real crime cases.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read all the books in this series by Kathryn McMaster, and this is the grittiest so far. Once again, the author relates the facts in her unique, neutral way, showing the reader how the legal process works and how it can often fail the children it's supposed to help.
This book is particularly memorable for the brutality of the crime committed. McMaster tells it in detail, without glamorizing the facts, and it hits you hard as you realise what these two children were capable of doing.
Sandy Charles was convicted of the killing, even though he was helped (and egged on) by another boy, who was too young to be prosecuted and who is still free today. Were the films Sandy watched to blame for this senseless killing, or did he have severe mental problems regardless?
The author also describes Charles's background, which in part explains where his problems may have stemmed from.
I highly recommend this series for lovers of true crime and anyone who enjoys a well-written story that is well balanced and thought provoking.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow what can I say. What a horrific and senseless killing made all the more disgusting by the fact the crime was committed by children. Regardless of the motives or the home life these two children savagely murdered this innocent child and then carried on as if nothing happened. The fact the younger child may be out on the streets is even more disturbing as Whos to know if he has received the help and care that he obviously needed. Yet again another well investigated and written story of the kind of stories we never expect to here of in our neighbourhoods.

[Lora Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite a number of interesting, or downright insane, statements and facts, this story was just not as interesting as Books 1-2 of the series, not even Book 3. Even though it's in the same format, the telling of this story came off as dry and clinical. Kind of boring. Which says a lot for me having been a true crime fan for over 20 years, yet it took me all day to read this because I kept putting it down.

As for the case itself, it was all pretty dissatisfying. For one, there was great dispute over whether Sandy Charles was "crazy or just acting crazy". Oh, it was no act, the boy was nuts. But I feel like he wasn't just insane, but criminally insane. How he carried out the murder and his actions over the years after that - including kicking a nurse in the head until they were unconscious - IMO, showed that. I feel as though he should've been in prison, not just a psychiatric facility. I have close family that are mentally ill, but are nonviolent and non-criminal. But there were several facts that were contradictory of each other. For instance, he won an award for being a stellar student in the 8th grade, but when tested it says that he had an IQ of 78 and was only on a 6th grade level. This makes more sense in that he'd have to have a more childlike mind to think that he could emulate movie characters and grant himself special powers. But I still feel like he knew what he was doing and it was premeditated. As for the victim, his mother and grandmother were very much to blame, but even if they could've protected him that day, Sandy would've gotten him another day or someone different. I am bothered by the fact that his accomplice was deemed too young to be tried and therefore got off scot-free; for all we know he could have killed more. They both would've gone to jail in the US.

[Robin Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book via an Amazon KINDLE Unlimited [KU] download.
When I began reading this True Crime series of books by Kathryn McMaster regarding kids who actually kill other children, I became not only appalled I also became mystified that this could happen. Children are supposed to be pure and innocent, but the child murderers this author writes about can rival those committed by adults, and can at times even surpass them to the extent of how heinous these murders were.

Ms. McMaster in writing these stories doesn’t shy away from including the horrific or shockingly macabre details even some male True Crime authors might not include for fear of unsettling their readers. In this outing the author has chosen to write about 14-year-old Sandy Charles and his even younger accomplice, 7-year-old William Martin. The abject depravity of the murder they committed involved the stripping of their young victim’s skin in order to extract the fat, so it could be used later.

The extent of the gruesomeness of this particular murder forced first responders to keep the pubic and even the media totally uninformed for fear of an ensuing turmoil being created.

Yet, despite all of this, the author made to sure to stick her well-researched facts and interviews, avoiding any sort of exaggeration or bias in what she wrote about, which she definitely needs to be complimented for doing. For giving her readers another compelling True Crime story, I glad to give Ms. McMaster the 5 STARS she’s gotten from this reviewer.

[Deirdre · Rating 5 out of 5]

How Canada's Justice System Deals with a Teen Murderer

Interesting history of the Cree Indigenous / Aboriginal people of Northern Canada and how the industrial revolution interrupted their way of life. Then their children were taken to Canadian schools, where they began to lose their knowledge of tribal customs. The very negative impact of alcohol and other drugs. The chronic high unemployment brought an once proud people crashing down to terrible levels of poverty and criminal activity just to survive. Children once always nurtured and protected were being left on their own more and more.

This is the backdrop for a story with terrible consequences that involved a fourteen year old and a seven year old. It also shows how superstition and mental illness can combine with deadly consequences. The conflict between the RCMP and the Aboriginal people was highlighted. The paternalistic way they made decisions for the La Ronge Saskatchewan community regarding the vicious killing of a young Cree boy. The author Kathryn McMaster really looked into how these factors combined to make an awful situation worse.

She even did a great job in demonstrating how the justice system for institutionalized individuals precariously balanced with the safety of the community at large. I am really enjoying reading this author. She puts meat on the bones of cases I've previously heard about. I definitely recommend her.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder is always shocking. A murder committed by a young person even more so. But when a 14-year-old boy and his seven-year-old accomplice are charged with the murder of another minor, it raises all manner of disturbing questions.
The latest in a series of 'true crime' stories, the Sandy Charles case examines the gruesome killing of seven-year-old Johnathan Thimpsen. For this is no straightforward case – if any murder can be judged so –as it involves a ritualistic slaying which rocks the small North Canadian community where it took place. Is the main perpetrator mentally ill, a product of his difficult background or could other influences – such as an early 90s B movie – have triggered the tragic events that unfolded several years later?
The author skilfully builds the backdrop to the murder and ensuing court case. She offers no pat explanations, simply providing evidence by way of court testimonies and other witness statements. It is a disturbing read, but an intelligent and thought-provoking one.

[Elisabeth Brookshire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book four of a decent series

There are four books now by this author who writes true crime stories about kids that kill. I enjoyed this one the least bit compared to the others in this series. This book deals with a case I've never heard of, that of Sandy Charles out of Canada. The murder is gruesome but the authorer doesn't dwell on those details. She mainly gives a brief chronicle of his life, the crime, sentence, and ensuing years into adulthood. The scariest part is that we are unable to learn anything about his seven year old accomplice. He could be anywhere right now doing anything.

[Kat Drennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forth in the series, Sandy Charles' story grips the heart as the story unfolds. In this case, a troubled boy becomes obsessed with the occult and draws in an accomplice. I've read four of McMaster's true crime series, Kids who Kill, and recognize once again how the crimes send shockwaves through the communities in which they occur, not just as a crime, but how such a thing happen in their midst? These cases are as informative as they are chilling when you understand how the community is almost complicit either in apathy where children are concerned.

[Jennifer Peacock-Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s fascinating to read what people beings are capable of!

There’s nothing like a bit of true crime to remind us what human beings are capable of. Not that we need reminding as such, with all that’s going on in the world but it’s easy to mix up fact and fiction and there’s a lot of rubbish out there. Human stories are my thing and I’m always fascinated with the whole spectrum of human capability. This is one end of that spectrum.

[Jessie Bradford · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read

Informational and gave good insight to the case as well as the trial stages. I would recommend this short read